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Uncle Wiggily and Mother 
Goose 

COMPLETE IN TWO PARTS 

FIFTY-TWO STORIES— ONE FOR EACH WEEK IN THE YEAR 


BY 

HOWARD R. GARIS 

II 

Author of 

"Stmmie and Susie Llttletail,” “Johnnie and Billie Bushytall," “Uncle 
Wlgelly Lonffears,” "Uncle Wigerlly at the Seashore,” “Uncle 
Wl^elly in the Country," “ The Daddy Series," etc. 


Illustrated by 

EDWARD BLOOMFIELD 


R. F. FENNO & COMPANY 

18 East 17 Street, New York 


CHILDREN’S BOOKS 

By HOWARD R. GARIS 


UNCLE WIGGILY’S BIG BOOKS 


Price, $1^50 each 

UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER GOOSE 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND HIS FRIENDS 

Large cloth volumes, decorated cover and eight colored 
illustrations each 


THE DADDY SERIES 


DADDY TAKES US CAMPING 
DADDY TAKES US FISHING 
DADDY TAKES US TO THE COUNTRY 
DADDY TAKES US COASTING 
DADDY TAKES US SKATING 
DADDY TAKES US HUNTING FLOWERS 
DADDY TAKES US HUNTING BIRDS 
DADDY TAKES US TO THE WOODS 


Small boards, decorated cover and illustrated 
Price, per volume, 4o cents 


Stories of Daddy and the two children who learned much 
of nature-lore and the great outdoors. 


CIRCUS ANIMAL STORIES 

Tales of wild animals of desert and jungle, telling how 
they are caught and trained to do circus tricks. 


SNARLTE, THE TIGER 
WOO-UFF, THE LION 
HUMPO, THE CAMEL 
UMBOO, THE ELEPHANT 



r • 

Copyriffhti .iMe, by 
R. F. FENNO & COMPANY 


UNCLE W16QILY AND MOTHER GOOSE 



©CI.A‘J452'j2 

OCT 1916 

, 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND 
MOTHER GOOSE 


PART I 



CONTENTS 


PART I. 

CHAPTEK PAGE 

I. Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose 9 

II. Uncle Wiggily and the First Pig 19 

III. Uncle Wiggily and the Second Pig. ... 25 

IV. Uncle Wiggily and the Third Pig. ... 31 

V. Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue ... 38 

VI. Uncle Wiggily and Higgledee Piggle- 

dee 45 

VII. Uncle Wiggily and Little Bo-Peep .... 52 

VIII. LTncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker. . . 58 

IX. Uncle Wiggily and Pussy Cat Mole. . . 65 

X. Uncle Wiggily and Jack and Jill 77 

XI. Uncle Wiggily and Jack Horner 77 

XII. Uncle Wiggily and Mr. Pop-Goes .... 84 

XIII. Uncle Wiggily and Simple Simon. ... 90 

XIV. Uncle Wiggily and the Crumpled-Horn 

Cow 96 

XV. Uncle Wiggily and Old Mother Hub- 
bard 103 


Contents. 


XVI. Uncle Wiggily and Miss Muffet 109 

XVII. Uncle Wiggily and the First Kitten. . . 115 

XVIII. Uncle Wiggily and the Second Kitten. . 121 

XIX. Uncle Wiggily and the Third Kitten. . 127 

XX. Uncle Wiggily and the Jack Horse. . . 133 

XXI. Uncle Wiggily and the Clock Mouse. . 140 

XXII. Uncle Wiggily and the Late Scholar. . 146 

XXIII. Uncle Wiggily and Baa-Baa Black 

Sheep 152 

XXIV. Uncle Wiggily and Polly Flinders. . . . 158 

XXV. Uncle Wiggily and the Garden Maid. . 164 

XXVI. Uncle Wiggily and the King 171 


Uncle Wiggily and Mother 
Goose 


CHAPTER I 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER GOOSE 

There once lived in the woods an old rabbit 
gentleman named Uncle Wiggily Longears, and 
in the hollow-stump bungalow where he had his 
home there also lived Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, 
a muskrat lady housekeeper. Near Uncle Wig- 
gily there were, in hollow trees, or in nests or in 
burrows under the ground, many animal friends 
of his — rabbits, squirrels, puppy dogs, pussy 
cats, frogs, ducks, chickens and others, so that 
Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane were never 
lonesome. 

Often Sammie or Susie Littletail, a small boy 
and girl rabbit, would hop over to the hollow- 
stump bungalow, and call : 

“Uncle Wiggily! Uncle Wiggily! Can’t 
you come out and play with us? ” 

Then the old rabbit gentleman, who was as 
fond of fun as a kitten, would put on his tall silk 
hat, take his red, white and blue striped barber- 

9 


10 Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose 


pole rheumatism crutch, that Nurse Jane had 
gnawed for him out of a corn-stalk, and he 
would go out to play with the rabbit children, 
about whom I have told you in other books. 

Or perhaps Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the 
squirrel boys, might ask Uncle Wiggily to go 
after hickory nuts with them, or maybe Lulu, 
Alice or Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck chil- 
dren, would want their bunny uncle to see them 
go swimming. 

So, altogether. Uncle Wiggily had a good 
time in his hollow-stump bungalow which was 
built in the woods. When he had nothing else 
to do Mr. Longears would go for a ride in his 
airship. This was made of a clothes-basket, with 
toy circus balloons on it to make it rise up above 
the trees. Or Uncle Wiggily might take a trip 
in his automobile, which had big bologna sau- 
sages on the wheels for tires. And whenever the 
rabbit gentleman wanted the automobile wheels 
to go around faster he sprinkled pepper on the 
sausages. 

One day Uncle Wiggily said to Nurse Jane 
Fuzzy Wuzzy: 

I think I will go for a ride in my airship. 
Is there anything I can bring from the store 
for you? ” 


Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose ii 


Why, you might bring a loaf of bread and 
a pound of sugar,” answered the muskrat lady. 

“ Very good,” answered Uncle Wiggily, and 
then he took some soft cushions out to put in 
the clothes-basket part of his airship, so, in case 
the air popped out of the balloons, and he fell, 
he would land easy like, and soft. 

Soon the rabbit gentleman was sailing off 
through the air, over the tree tops, his paws in 
nice, warm red mittens that Nurse Jane had 
knitted for him. For it was winter, you see, and 
Uncle Wiggily^s paws would have been cold 
steering his airship, by the baby carriage wheel 
which guided it, had it not been for the mittens. 

It did not take the bunny uncle long to go to 
the store in his airship, and soon, with the loaf 
of bread and pound of sugar under the seat, 
away he started for his hollow-stump bungalow 
again. 

And, as he sailed on and over the tree tops. 
Uncle Wiggily looked far off, and he saw some 
black smoke rising in the air. 

‘‘ Ha ! That smoke seems to be near my hol- 
low-stump bungalow,” he said to himself. “ I 
guess Nurse Jane is starting a fire in the kitchen 
stove to get dinner. I must hurry home.” 

Uncle Wiggily made his airship go faster, and 


12 Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose 


then he saw, coming toward him, a big bird, 
with large wings. 

“ Why, that looks just like my old friend. 
Grandfather Goosey Gander,” Uncle Wiggily 
thought to himself. I wonder why he is flying 
so high? He hardly ever goes up so near the 
clouds. 

“ And he seems to have some one on his back,” 
spoke Uncle Wiggily out loud this time, sort of 
talking to the loaf of bread and the pound of 
sugar. “ A lady, too,” went on the bunny uncle. 
“ A lady with a tall hat on, something like mine, 
only hers comes to a point on top. And she has 
a broom with her. I wonder who it can be? ” 

And when the big white bird came nearer to 
the airship Uncle Wiggily saw that it was not 
Grandfather Goosey Gander at all, but another 
big gander, almost like his friend, whom he 
often went to see. And then the bunny uncle 
saw who it was on the bird's back. 

“Why, it’s Mother Goose!” cried Uncle 
Wiggily Longears. “ It’s Mother Goose 1 She 
looks just like her pictures in the book, too.” 

“ Yes, I am Mother Goose,” said the lady who 
was riding on the back of the big, white gander, 
spoke Mr. Longears. “ I have often heard 

“ I am glad to meet you. Mother Goose,” 


Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose 13 


about you. I can see, over the tree tops, that 
Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, my muskrat lady 
housekeeper, is getting dinner ready. I can tell 
by the smoke. Will you not ride home with me? 
I will make my airship go slowly, so as not 
to get ahead of you and your fine gander-goose.” 

“ Alas, Uncle Wiggily,” said Mother Goose, 
scratching her chin with the end of the broom 
handle, “ I cannot come home to dinner with 
you much as I would like it. Alas! Alas! ” 

‘‘ Why not? ” asked the bunny uncle. 
Because I have bad news for you,” said 
Mother Goose. “ That smoke, which you saw 
over the tree tops, was not smoke from your 
chimney as Nurse Jane was getting dinner.” 

“ What was it then? ” asked Uncle Wiggily, 
and a cold shiver sort of ran up and down be- 
tween his ears, even if he did have warm, red 
mittens on his paws. ‘‘ What was that smoke? ” 
“ The smoke from your burning bungalow,” 
went on Mother Goose. “ It caught fire, when 

Nurse Jane was getting dinner, and now ” 

Oh ! Don’t tell me Nurse Jane is burned ! ” 
cried Uncle Wiggily. “ Don’t say that! ” 

I was not going to,” spoke Mother Goose, 
kindly. “ But I must tell you that your hollow- 
stump bungalow is burned to the ground. 


14 Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose 


There is nothing left but some ashes/’ and she 
made the gander, on whose back she was riding, 
fly close alongside of Uncle Wiggily’s airship. 

My nice bungalow burned! ” exclaimed the 
rabbit gentleman. “ Well, I am very, very sorry 
for that. But still it might be worse. Nurse 
Jane might have been hurt, and that would have 
been quite too bad. I dare say I can get another 
bungalow.” 

“ That is what I came to tell you about,” said 
Mother Goose. “ I was riding past when I saw 
your Woodland hollow-stump house on fire, and 
I went down to see if I could help. It was too 
late to save the bungalow, but I said I would find 
a place for you and Nurse Jane to stay to-night, 
or as long as you like, until you can build a new 
home.” 

‘‘ That is very kind of you,” said Uncle Wig- 
gily. ‘‘ I hardly know what to do.” 

“ I have many friends,” went on Mother 
Goose. “ You may have read about them in 
the book which tells of me. Any of my friends 
would be glad to have you come and live with 
them. There is the Old Woman Who Lives in 
a Shoe, for instance.” 

“ But hasn’t she so many children she doesn’t 


Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose 15 


know what to do? asked Uncle Wiggily, as he 
remembered the story in the book. 

“ Yes,” answered Mother Goose, ‘‘ she has. I 
suppose you would not like it there.” 

“ Oh, I like children,” said Uncle Wiggily. 
“ But if there are so many that the dear Old Lady 
doesn't know what to do, she wouldn't know 
what to do with Nurse Jane and me.” 

“ Well, you might go stay with my friend Old 
Mother Hubbard,” said Mother Goose. 

“ But if I went there, would not the cupboard 
be bare? ” asked Uncle Wiggily, “ and what 
would Nurse Jane and I do for something to 
eat? ” 

“ That's so,” spoke Mother Goose, as she 
reached up quite high and brushed a cobweb off 
the sky with her broom. “ That will not do, 
either. I must see about getting Mother Hub- 
bard and her dog something to eat. You can 
stay with her later. Oh, I have it ! ” suddenly 
cried the lady who was riding on the back of the 
white gander, “ you can go stay with Old King 
Colei He's a jolly old soul!” 

Uncle Wiggily shook his head. 

“ Thank you very much. Mother Goose,” he 
said, slowly. But Old King Cole might send 
for his fiddlers three, and I do not believe I 


i6 Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose 


would like to listen to jolly music to-day when 
my nice bungalow has just burned down.’’ 

“ No, perhaps not,” agreed Mother Goose. 
'' Well, if you can find no other place to stay to- 
night come with me. I have a big house, and 
with me live Little Bo Peep, Little Boy Blue, 
who is getting to be quite a big chap now. Little 
Tommie Tucker and Jack Sprat and his wife. 
Oh, I have many other friends living with me, 
and surely we can find room for you.” 

“ Thank you,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “ I 
will think about it.” 

Then he flew down in his airship to the place 
where the hollow-stump bungalow had been, but 
it was not there now. Mother Goose flew down 
with her gander after Uncle Wiggily. They 
saw a pile of blackened and smoking wood, and 
near it stood Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the 
muskrat lady, and many other animals who lived 
in Woodland with Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Oh, I am so sorry! ” cried Nurse Jane. ‘‘ It 
is my fault. I was baking a pudding in the oven. 
Uncle Wiggily. I left it a minute while I ran 
over to the pen of Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck 
lady, to ask her about making a new kind of car- 
rot sauce for the pudding, and when I came 
home the pudding had burned, and the bunga- 
low was on fire.” 


Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose 17 


Never mind,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, kindly, 
‘‘ as long as you were not burned yourself. Nurse 
Jane.” 

“ But where will you sleep to-night? ” asked 
the muskrat lady, sorrowfully. 

“ Oh,” began Uncle Wiggily, I guess I 
can ; ” 

‘‘ Come stay with us ! ” cried Sammie and 
Susie Littletail, the rabbit children. 

“Or with us!” invited Johnnie and Billie 
Bushytail, the squirrels. 

“ And why not with us? ” asked Nannie and 
Billie Wagtail, the goat children. 

“ We’d ask you to come with us,” said Jollie 
and Jillie Longtail, the mouse children, “ only 
our house is so small.” 

Many of Uncle Wiggily ’s friends, who had 
hurried up to see the hollow-stump bungalow 
burn, while he was at the store, now, in turn, in- 
vited him to stay with them. 

“ I, myself, have asked him to come with me,” 
said Mother Goose, “ or with any of my friends. 
We all would be glad to have him.” 

“ It is very kind of you,” said the rabbit gentle- 
man. “ And this is what I will do, until I can 
build me a new bungalow. I will take turns 
staying at your different hollow-tree homes, your 


i8 Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose 


nests or your burrows underground. And I will 
come and visit you also, Mother Goose, and all 
of your friends; at least such of them as have 
room for me. 

“ Yes, that is what Fll do. Fll visit around 
now that my hollow-stump home is burned. I 
thank you all. Come, Nurse Jane, we will pay 
our first visit to Sammie and Susie Littletail, the 
rabbits.” 

And while the other animals hopped, skipped 
or flew away through the woods, and as Mother 
Goose sailed off on the back of her gander, to 
sweep more cobwebs out of the sky. Uncle Wig- 
gily and Nurse Jane went to the Littletail bur- 
row, or underground house. 

‘‘ Good-bye, Uncle Wiggily! ” called Mother 
Goose. “ Fll see you again, soon, sometime. 
And if ever you meet with any of my friends, 
Little Jack Horner, Bo Peep, or the three little 
pigs, about whom you may have read in my 
book, be kind to them.” 

“ I will,” promised Uncle Wiggily. 

And he did, as you may read in the next chap- 
ter, when, if the sugar spoon doesn’t tickle the 
carving knife and make it dance on the bread 
board, the story will be about Uncle Wiggily 
and the first little pig. 


CHAPTER II 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FIRST PIG 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old gen- 
tleman rabbit, came out of the underground 
burrow house of the Littletail family, where he 
was visiting a while with the bunny children, 
Sammie and Susie, because his own hollow- 
stump bungalow had burned down. 

Where are you going. Uncle Wiggily? 
asked Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy, as he 
strapped his cabbage leaf books together, ready 
to go to school. 

“ Oh, I am just going for a little walk,’’ an- 
swered Uncle Wiggily. “ Nurse Jane Fuzzy 
Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, asked 
me to get her some court plaster from the five 
and six cent store, and on my way there I may 
have an adventure. Who knows? ” 

‘‘ We are going to school,” said Susie. “ Will 
you walk part of the way with us, Uncle Wig- 
gily? ” 


19 


20 Uncle Wiggily and the First Pig 


“ To be sure I will ! ” crowed the old gentle- 
man rabbit, making believe he was Mr. Cock 
A. Doodle, the rooster. 

So Uncle Wiggily, with Sammie and Susie, 
started off across the snow-covered fields and 
through the woods. Pretty soon they came to 
the path the rabbit children must take to go to 
the hollow-stump school, where the lady mouse 
teacher would hear their carrot and turnip 
gnawing lessons. 

“ Good-by, Uncle Wiggily! ” called Sammie 
and Susie. “We hope you have a nice adven- 
ture.’' 

“ Good-by. Thank you, I hope I do,” he an- 
swered. 

Then the rabbit gentleman walked on, while 
Sammie and Susie hurried to school, and pretty 
soon Mr. Longears heard a queer grunting noise 
behind some bushes near him. 

“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! ” came the sound. 

“ Hello! Who is there? ” asked Uncle Wig- 

gily- 

“ Why, if you please, I am here, and I am the 
first little pig,” came the answer, and out from 
behind the bush stepped a cute little piggie boy, 
with a bundle of straw under his paw. 

“ So you are the first little pig, eh? ” asked 


Uncle Wiggily and the First Pig 21 


Uncle Wiggily. “ How many of you are there 
altogether? 

“ Three, if you please,” grunted the first little 
pig. “ I have two brothers, and they are the 
second and third little pigs. Don’t you remem- 
ber reading about us in the Mother Goose 
book? ” 

“ Oh, of course I do ! ” cried Uncle Wiggily, 
twinkling his nose. And so you are the first 
little pig. But what are you going to do with 
that bundle of straw? ” 

“ I’m going to build me a house. Uncle Wig- 
gily, of course,” grunted the piggie boy. 
“ Don’t you remember what it says in the book? 
‘ Once upon a time there were three little pigs, 
named Grunter, Squeaker and Twisty-Tail.’ 
Well, I’m Grunter, and I met a man with a load 
of straw, and I asked him for a bundle to make 
me a house. He very kindly gave it to me, and 
now. I’m off to build it.” 

‘‘ May I come? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. I’ll 
help you put up your house.” 

'‘Of course you may come — glad to have 
you,” answered the first little pig. “ Only you 
know what happens to me; don’t you? ” 

" No! What? ” asked the rabbit gentleman. 
“ I guess I have forgotten the story.” 


22 Uncle Wiggily and the First Pig 


“ Well, after I build my house of straw, just 
as it says in the Mother Goose story book, along 
comes a bad old wolf, and he blows it down,” 
said the first little pig. 

‘‘ Oh, how dreadful ! ” cried Uncle Wiggily, 
“ but maybe he won’t come to-day.” 

“ Oh, yes, he will,” said the first little pig. 
“ It’s that way in the book, and the wolf has to 
come.” 

“ Well, if he does,” said Uncle Wiggily, 
“ maybe I can save you from him.” 

“ Oh, I hope you can ! ” grunted Grunter. 
“ It is no fun to be chased by a wolf.” 

So the rabbit gentleman and the piggie boy 
went on and on, until they came to the place 
where Grunter was to build his house of straw. 
Uncle Wiggily helped, and soon it was finished. 

“ Why, it is real nice and cozy in here,” said 
Uncle Wiggily, when he had made a big pile 
of snow back of the straw house to keep off the 
north wind, and had gone in with the little pig- 
gie boy. 

“ Yes, it is cozy enough,” spoke Grunter, 
“ but wait until the bad wolf comes. Oh, dear I ” 

'' Maybe he won’t come,” said the rabbit, 
hopeful like. 


Uncle Wiggily and the First Pig 23 


‘‘Yes, he will!” cried Grunter. “Here he 
comes now.” 

And, surely enough, looking out of the win- 
dow, the piggie boy and Uncle Wiggily saw a 
bad wolf running over the snow toward them. 
The wolf knocked on the door of the straw 
house and cried : 

“Little pig! Little pig! Let me come in.” 

“ No ! No ! By the hair of my chinny-chin- 
chin. I will not let you in ! ” answered Grunter, 
just like in the book. 

“ Then Til puff and I’ll blow, and I’ll blow 
your house in!” howled the wolf. Then he 
puffed and he blew, and, all of a sudden, over 
went the straw house. But, just as it was falling 
down. Uncle Wiggily cried: 

“ Quick, Grunter, come with me ! “ I’ll dig 
a hole for us in the pile of snow that I made back 
of your house and in there we’ll hide where the 
wolf can’t find us ! ” Then the rabbit gentleman, 
with his strong paws, just made for digging, bur- 
rowed a hole in the snow-bank, and as the straw 
house toppled down, into this hole he crawled 
with Grunter. 

“Now I’ve got you! ” cried the wolf, as he 
blew down the first little pig's straw house. But 
when the wolf looked he couldn’t see Grunter 


24 Uncle Wiggily and the First Pig 


or Uncle Wiggily at all, because they were hid- 
ing in the snow-bank. 

Well, well! ’’ howled the wolf. This isn’t 
like the book at all 1 Where is that little pig? ” 

But the wolf could not find Grunter, and soon 
the bad creature went away, fearing to catch 
cold in his eyes. Then Uncle Wiggily and 
Grunter came out of the snow-bank and were 
safe, and Uncle Wiggily took Grunter home to 
the rabbit house to stay until Mother Goose 
came, some time afterward, to get the first little 
pig boy. 

“ Thank you very much. Uncle Wiggily,” 
said Mother Goose, “ for being kind to one of 
my friends.” 

‘‘ Pray don’t mention it. I had a fine adven- 
ture, besides saving a little pig,” said the rabbit 
gentleman. “ I wonder what will happen to 
me to-morrow? ” 

And we shall soon see for, if the , snowball 
doesn’t wrap itself up in the parlor rug to hide 
away from the jam tart, when it comes home 
from the moving pictures, Fll tell you next about 
Uncle Wiggily and the second little pig. 


CHAPTER III 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SECOND PIG 

‘‘There! It’s all done!” exclaimed Nurse 
Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the nice muskrat lady 
housekeeper, who, with Uncle Wiggily Long- 
ears, the rabbit gentleman, was staying in the 
Littletail rabbit house, since the hollow-stump 
bungalow had burned down. 

“ What’s all done? ” asked Uncle Wiggily, 
looking over the tops of his spectacles. 

“ These jam tarts I baked for Billie and Nan- 
nie Wagtail, the goat children,” said Nurse Jane. 
“ Will you take them with you when you go 
out for a walk. Uncle Wiggily, and leave them 
at the goat house? ” 

“ I most certainly will,” said the rabbit gentle- 
man, very politely. “ Is there anything else I can 
do for you. Nurse Jane? ” 

But the muskrat lady wanted nothing more, 
and, wrapping up the jam tarts in a napkin so 
they would not catch cold, she gave them to Mr. 
Longears to take to the two goat children. 

25 


26 Uncle Wiggily and the Second Pig 


Uncle Wiggily was walking along, wonder- 
ing what sort of an adventure he would have that 
day, or whether he would meet Mother Goose 
again, when all at once he heard a voice speak- 
ing from behind some bushes. 

“ Yes, I think I will build my house here,” the 
voice said. “ The wolf is sure to find me any- 
how, and I might as well have it over with. I’ll 
make my house here.” 

Uncle Wiggily looked over the bushes, and 
there he saw a funny little animal boy, with some 
pieces of wood on his shoulder. 

“ Hello! ” cried Uncle Wiggily, making his 
nose twinkle in a most jilly-jolly way. “ Who 
are you, and what are you going to do? ” 

“ Why, I am Squeaker, the second little pig, 
and I am going to make a house of wood,” was 
the answer. “ Don’t you remember how it reads 
in the Mother Goose book? ‘ Once upon a time 
there were three little pigs, named Grunter, 
Squeaker and ’ ” 

“ Oh, yes, I remember! ” Uncle Wiggily said. 
“ I met your brother Grunter yesterday, and 
helped him build his straw house.” 

“ That was kind of you,” spoke Squeaker. “ I 
suppose the bad old wolf got him, though. Too 


Uncle Wiggily and the Second Pig 27 


bad! Well, it can’t be helped, as it is that way 
in the book.” 

Uncle Wiggily didn’t say anything about 
having saved Grunter, for he wanted to surprise 
Squeaker, so the rabbit gentleman just twinkled 
his nose again and asked : 

“May I have the pleasure of helping you 
build your house of wood? ” 

“ Indeed you may, thank you,” said Squeaker. 
“ I suppose the old wolf will be along soon, so 
we had better hurry to get the house finished.” 

Then the second little pig and Uncle Wiggily 
built the wooden house. When it was almost 
finished Uncle Wiggily went out near the back 
door, and began piling up some cakes of ice to 
make a sort of box. 

“ What are you doing? ” asked Squeaker. 

“ Oh, I’m just making a place where I can put 
these jam tarts I have for Nannie and Billie 
Wagtail,” the rabbit gentleman answered. “ I 
don’t want the wolf to get them when he blows 
down your house.” 

“ Oh, dear 1 ” sighed Squeaker. “ I rather 
wish, now, he didn’t have to blow over my nice 
wooden house, and get me. But he has to, I 
s’pose, ’cause it’s in the book.” 

Still, Uncle Wiggily didn’t say anything, but 


28 Uncle Wiggily and the Second Pig 


he just sort of blinked his eyes and twinkled his 
pink nose, until, all of a sudden, Squeaker looked 
across the snowy fields, and he cried : 

“ Here comes the bad old wolf now ! ” 

And, surely enough, along came the growl- 
ing, howling creature. He ran up to the second 
little pig’s wooden house, and, rapping on the 
door with his paw, cried: 

“ Little pig ! Little pig ! Let me come in ! ” 

“ No, no ! By the hair on my chinny-chin- 
chin I will not let you in,” said the second little 
pig, bravely. 

“ Then I’ll pufi and I’ll blow, and I’ll puff 
and I’ll blow, and blow your house in! ” howled 
the wolf. 

Then he puffed out his cheeks, and he took a 
long breath and he blew with all his might and 
main and suddenly: 

“ Cracko!” 

Down went the wooden house of the second 
little piggie, and only that Uncle Wiggily and 
Squeaker jumped to one side they would have 
been squashed as flat as a pancake, or even two 
pancakes. 

“ Quick I ” cried the rabbit gentleman in the 
piggie boy’s ear. “ This way ! Come with me 1 

“ Where are we going? ” asked Squeaker, a§ 


Uncle Wiggily and the Second Pig 29 


he followed the rabbit gentleman over the 
cracked and broken boards, which were all that 
was left of the house. 

“We are going to the little cabin that I made 
out of cakes of ice, behind your wooden house,” 
said Uncle Wiggily. “ I put the jam tarts in it, 
but there is also room for us, and we can hide 
there until the bad wolf goes off.” 

“ Well, that isn’t the way it is in the book,” said 

the second little pig. “ But ” 

. “No matter!” cried Uncle Wiggily. 
“ Hurry! ” So he and Squeaker hid in the ice 
cabin back of the blown-down house, and when 
the bad wolf came poking along among the 
broken boards, to get the little pig, he couldn’t 
find him. For Uncle Wiggily had closed the 
door of the ice place, and as it was partly cov- 
ered with snow the wolf could not see through. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” howled the wolf. “ That’s twice 
I’ve been fooled by those pigs! It isn’t like the 
book at all. I wonder where he can have 
gone? ” 

But he could not find Squeaker or Uncle Wig- 
gily either, and finally the wolf’s nose became so 
cold from sniffing the ice that he had to go home 
to warm it, and so Uncle Wiggily and Squeaker 
were safe. 


30 Uncle Wiggily and the Second Pig 


“ Oh, I don’t know how to thank you,” said 
the second little piggie boy as the rabbit gentle- 
man took him home to Mother Goose, after hav- 
ing left the jam tarts at the home of the Wagtail 
goats. 

“ Pray do not mention it,” spoke Uncle Wig- 
gily, modest like, and shy. “ It was just an ad- 
venture for me.” 

He had another adventure the following day, 
Uncle Wiggily did. And if the dusting brush 
doesn’t go swimming in the soap dish, and get 
all lather so that it looks like a marshmallow 
cocoanut cake. I’ll tell you next about Uncle 
Wiggily and the third little pig. 


CHAPTER IV 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE THIRD PIG 

Uncle Wiggily Longears sat in the burrow, 
or house under the ground, where he and Nurse 
Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, lived with 
the Littletail family of rabbits since the hollow- 
stump bungalow had burned. 

‘‘ Oh, dear I ” sounded a grunting, woofing 
sort of voice over near one window. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” squealed another voice from un- 
der the table. 

“ Well, well ! What is the matter with you 
two piggie boys? ’’ asked Uncle Wiggily, as he 
took down from the sideboard his red, white and 
blue barber-pole striped rheumatism crutch that 
Nurse Jane had gnawed for him out of a corn- 
stalk, 

'' What’s the trouble, Grunter and Squeaker? ” 
asked the rabbit gentleman. 

‘‘ We are lonesome for our brother,” said the 
two little piggie boys No. i and No. 2. ‘‘ We 
want to see Twisty-Tail.” 

31 


32 Uncle Wiggily and the Third Pig 


For the first and second little pigs, after hav- 
ing been saved by Uncle Wiggily, and taken 
home to Mother Goose, had come back to pay a 
visit to the bunny gentleman. 

Well, perhaps I may meet Twisty-Tail when 
I go walking to-day,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. 
‘‘ If I do I’ll bring him home with me.” 

“ Oh, goodie ! ” cried Grunter and Squeaker. 
For they were the first and second little pigs, you 
see. Uncle Wiggily had saved Grunter from 
the bad wolf when the growling creature blew 
down Grunter’s straw house. And, in almost 
the same way, the bunny uncle had saved 
Squeaker, when his wooden house was blown 
over by the wolf. But Twisty-Tail, the third 
little pig. Uncle Wiggily had not yet helped. 

‘‘ I’ll look for Twisty-Tail to-day,” said the 
rabbit gentleman as he started off for his adven- 
ture walk, which he took every afternoon and 
morning. 

On and on went Uncle Wiggily Longears 
over the snow-covered fields and through the 
wood, until just as he was turning around the 
corner near an old red stump, the rabbit gentle- 
man heard a clinkity-clankity sort of a noise, and 
the sound of whistling. 

“Hal Some one is happy!” thought the 


Uncle Wiggily and the Third Pig 33 


bunny uncle. “ That’s a good sign — whistling. 
I wonder who it is? ” 

He looked around the stump corner and he 
saw a little animal chap, with blue rompers on, 
and a fur cap stuck back of his left ear, and this 
little animal chap was whistling away as merrily 
as a butterfly eating butterscotch candy. 

“ Why, that must be the third little pig! ” ex- 
claimed Uncle Wiggily. ‘‘ Hello 1 ” called the 
rabbit gentleman. “ Are you Twisty-Tail? ” 

“ That’s my name,” answered the little pig, 
“ and, as you see, I am building my house of 
bricks, just as it tells about in the Mother Goose 
book.” 

And, surely enough, Twisty-Tail was building 
a little house of red bricks, and it was the tap- 
tap-tapping of his trowel, or mortar-shovel, that 
made the clinkity-clankity noise. 

‘‘ Do you know me. Uncle Wiggily? ” asked 
the piggie boy. “ You see I am in a book. 
‘ Once upon a time there were three little pigs, 
and ’ ” 

I know all about you,” interrupted Uncle 
Wiggily. “ I have met Mother Goose, and also 
your two brothers.” 

“ They didn’t know how to build the right 
kind of houses, and so the wolf got them,” said 


34 Uncle Wiggily and the Third Pig 


Twisty-Tail. “ I am sorry, but it had to happen 
that way, just as it is in the book.” 

Uncle Wiggily smiled, but said nothing. 

“ I met a man with a load of bricks, and I 
begged some of them to build my house,” said 
Twisty-Tail. “ No wolf can get me. No, 
sir-ee ! I’ll build my house very strong, not weak 
like my brothers’. No, indeed! ” 

‘‘ I’ll help you build your house,” offered 
Uncle Wiggily, kindly, and just as he and 
Twisty-Tail finished the brick house and put 
on the roof it began to rain and freeze. 

“We are through just in time,” said Twisty- 
Tail, as he and the rabbit gentleman hurried in- 
side. “ I don’t believe the wolf will come out in 
such weather.” 

But just as he said that and looked from the 
window, the little piggie boy gave a cry, and 
said: 

“ Oh, here comes the bad animal now ! But 
he can’t get in my house, or blow it over, ’cause 
the book says he didn’t.” 

The wolf came up through the freezing rain 
and knocking on the third piggie boy’s brick 
house, said : 

“Little pig! Little pig! Let me come in ! ” 

“ No ! No ! By the hair of my chinny-chin- 


Uncle Wiggily and the Third Pig 35 


chin, I will not let you in ! ” grunted Twisty- 
Tail. 

‘‘ Then I’ll puff and I’ll blow, and I’ll blow 
your house in! ” howled the wolf. 

You can’t I The book says so 1 ” laughed the 
little pig. “ My house is a strong, brick one. 
You can’t get me! ” 

“Just you wait! ” growled the wolf. So he 
puffed out his cheeks, and he blew and he blew, 
but he could not blow down the brick house, be- 
cause it was so strong. 

“ Well, I’m in no hurry,” the wolf said. “ I’ll 
sit down and wait for you to come out.” 

So the wolf sat down on his tail to wait outside 
the brick house. After a while Twisty-Tail be- 
gan to get hungry. 

“ Did you bring anything to eat. Uncle Wig- 
gily? ” he asked. 

“ No, I didn’t,” answered the rabbit gentle- 
man. “ But if the old wolf would go away I’d 
take you where your two brothers are visiting 
with me in the Littletail family rabbit house and 
you could have all you want to eat.” 

But the wolf would not go away, even when 
Uncle Wiggily asked him to, most politely, mak- 
ing a bow and twinkling his nose. 

“ I’m going to stay here all night,” the wolf 


36 Uncle Wiggily and the Third Pig 


growled. “ I am not going away. I am going 
to get that third little pig! ” 

“ Are you? Well, we’ll see about that ! ” cried 
the rabbit gentleman. Then he took a rib out of 
his umbrella, and with a piece of his shoe lace 
(that he didn’t need) for a string he made a bow 
like the Indians used to have. 

“ If I only had an arrow now I could shoot it 
from my umbrella-bow, hit the wolf on the nose 
and make him go away,” said Uncle Wiggily. 
Then he looked out of the window and saw 
where the rain, dripping from the roof, had 
frozen into long, sharp icicles. 

“Ha!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “An icicle 
will make the best kind of an arrow! Now I’ll 
shoot the wolf, not hard enough to hurt him, but 
just hard enough to make him run away.” 

Reaching out the window Uncle Wiggily 
broke off a sharp icicle. He put this ice arrow 
in his bow and, pulling back the shoe string, 
“ twang ! ” he shot the wolf on the nose. 

“ Oh, wow ! Oh, double-wow ! Oh, custard 
cake ! ” howled the wolf. “ This isn’t in the 
Mother Goose book at all. Not a single pig did 
I get ! Oh, my nose ! Ouch ! ” 

Then he ran away, and Uncle Wiggily and 
Twisty-Tail could come safely out of the brick 


Uncle Wiggily and the Third Pig 37 


house, which they did, hurrying home to the 
bunny house where Grunter and Squeaker were, 
to get something to eat. So everything came out 
right, you see, and Uncle Wiggily saved the 
three little pigs, one after the other. 

And if the canary bird doesn’t go swimming 
in the rice pudding, and eat out all the raisin 
seeds, so none is left for the parrot. I’ll tell you 
next of Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue. 


CHAPTER V 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND LITTLE BOY BLUE 

‘‘ Uncle Wiggily, are you very busy to-day? ” 
asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat 
lady housekeeper, who, with the old rabbit gen- 
tleman, was on a visit to the Bushytail family of 
squirrels in their hollow-tree home. 

After staying a while with the Littletail rab- 
bits, when his hollow-stump bungalow had 
burned down, the bunny uncle went to visit 
Johnnie and Billie Bushytail. 

‘‘ Are you very busy. Uncle Wiggily? ” asked 
the muskrat lady. 

“ Why, no. Nurse Jane, not so very,” an- 
swered the bunny uncle. “ Is there something 
you would like me to do for you? ” he asked, 
with a polite bow. 

“ Well, Mrs. Bushytail and I have just baked 
some pies,” said the muskrat lady, “ and we 
thought perhaps you might like to take one to 
your friend. Grandfather Goosey Gander.” 

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Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue 39 


“Fine!” cried Uncle Wiggily, making his 
nose twinkle like a star on a Christmas tree 
in the dark. “ Grandpa Goosey will be glad 
to get a pie. “ I’ll take him one.” 

“ We have it all ready for you,” said Mrs. 
Bushytail, the squirrel mother of Johnnie and 
Billie, as she came in the sitting-room. “ It’s a 
nice hot pie, and it will keep your paws warm. 
Uncle Wiggily, as you go over the ice and snow 
through the woods and across the fields.” 

“ Fine I ” cried the bunny uncle again. “ I’ll 
get ready and go at once.” 

Uncle Wiggily put on his warm fur coat, fas- 
tened his tall silk hat on his head, with his ears 
sticking up through holes cut in the brim, so it 
would not blow off, and then, taking his red, 
white and blue striped rheumatism crutch, that 
Nurse Jane had gnawed for him out of a corn- 
stalk, away he started. He carried the hot apple 
pie in a basket over his paw. 

“ Grandpa Goosey will surely like this pie,” 
said Uncle Wiggily to himself, as he lifted the 
napkin that was over it to take a little sniff. “ It 
makes me hungry myself. And how nice and 
warm it is,” he went on, as he put one cold paw 
in the basket to warm it ; warm his paw I mean, 
not the basket. 


40 Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue 


Over the fields and through the woods hopped 
the bunny uncle. It began to snow a little, but 
Uncle Wiggily did not mind that, for he was 
well wrapped up. 

When he was about halfway to Grandpa 
Goosey’s house Uncle Wiggily heard, from be- 
hind a pile of snow, a sad sort of crying voice. 

Hello ! ” exclaimed the bunny uncle, “ that 
sounds like some one in trouble. I must see if 
I can help them.” 

Uncle Wiggily looked over the top of the pile 
of snow, and, sitting on the ground, in front of 
a big icicle, was a boy all dressed in blue. Even 
his eyes were blue, but you could not very well 
see them, as they were filled with tears. 

Oh, dear ! Oh, dear ! ” said Uncle Wiggily, 
kindly. “ This is quite too bad ! What is the 
matter, little fellow; and who are you? ” 

“ I am Little Boy Blue, from the home of 
Mother Goose,” was the answer, “ and the mat- 
ter is that it’s lost ! ” 

“ What is lost? ” asked Uncle. ‘‘ If it’s a 
penny I will help you find it.” 

“ It isn’t a penny,” answered Boy Blue. “ It’s 
the hay stack which I have to sleep under. I 
can’t find it, and I must see where it is or else 


Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue 41 


things won’t be as they are in the Mother Goose 
book. Don’t you know what it says? ” 

And he sang: 

‘‘ Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn, 

There are sheep in the meadow and cows in 
the corn. 

Where’s Little Boy Blue, who looks after the 
sheep? 

Why he’s under the hay stack, fast asleep. 

Only I can’t go to sleep under the hay stack. 
Uncle Wiggily, because I can’t find it. And, oh, 
dear ! I don’t know what to do ! ” and Little Boy 
Blue cried harder than ever, so that some of his 
tears froze into little round marbles of ice, like 
hail stones. 

''There, there, now!” said Uncle Wiggily, 
kindly. " Of course you can’t find a hay stack 
in the winter. They are all covered with snow.” 

" Are they? ” asked Boy Blue, real surprised 
like. 

" Of course, they are! ” cried Uncle Wiggily, 
in his most jolly voice. " Besides, you wouldn’t 
want to sleep under a hay stack, even if there was 
one here, in the winter. You would catch cold 
and have the sniffle-snuffles,” 


42 Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue 


That’s so, I might,” Boy Blue said, and he 
did not cry so hard now. “ But that isn’t all. 
Uncle Wiggily,” he went on, nodding at the 
rabbit gentleman. It isn’t all my trouble.” 

“ What else is the matter? ” asked the bunny 
uncle. 

“ It’s my horn,” spoke the little boy who 
looked after the cows and sheep. ‘‘ I can’t make 
any music tunes on my horn. And I really have 
to blow my horn, you know, for it says in the 
Mother Goose book that I must. See, I can’t 
blow it a bit.” And Boy Blue put his horn to his 
lips, puffed out his cheeks and blew as hard as 
he could, but no sound came out. 

“ Let me try,” said Uncle Wiggily. The rab- 
bit gentleman took the horn and he, also, tried to 
blow. He blew so hard he almost blew off his 
tall silk hat, but no sound came from the horn. 

“ Ah, I see what the trouble is ! ” cried the 
bunny uncle with a jolly laugh, looking down 
inside the “ toot-tooter.” It is so cold that the 
tunes are all frozen solid in your horn. But I 
have a hot apple pie here in my basket that I was 
taking to Grandpa Goosey Gander. I’ll hold 
the cold horn on the hot pie and the tunes will 
thaw out.” 

“ Oh, have you a pie in there? ” asked Little 


Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue 43 


Boy Blue. “ Is it the Christmas pie into which 
Little Jack Horner put in his thumb and pulled 
out a plum? ” 

“ Not quite, but nearly the same,” laughed 
Uncle Wiggily. “ Now to thaw out the frozen 
horn.” 

The bunny uncle put Little Boy Blue’s horn 
in the basket with the hot apple pie. Soon the 
ice was melted out of the horn, and Uncle Wig- 
gily could blow on it, and play tunes, and so 
could Boy Blue. Tootity-toot-toot tunes they 
both played. 

‘‘Now you are all right!” cried the bunny 
uncle. “ Come along with me and you may 
have a piece of this pie for yourself. And you 
may stay with Grandpa Goosey Gander until 
summer comes, and then blow your horn for the 
sheep in the meadow and the cows in the corn. 
There is no need, now, for you to stay out in the 
cold and look for a haystack under which to 
sleep.” 

“ No, I guess not,” said Boy Blue. “ I’ll come 
with you. Uncle Wiggily. And thank you, so 
much, for helping me. I don’t know what 
would have happened only for you.” 

“ Pray do not mention it,” politely said Uncle 
Wiggily with a laugh. Then he and little Boy 


44 Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue 


Blue hurried on through the snow, and soon they 
were at Grandpa Goosey’s house with the warm 
apple pie, and oh! how good it tasted! Oh, 
yum-yum ! 

And if the church steeple doesn’t drop the 
ding-dong bell down in the pulpit and scare the 
organ. I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily 
and Higgledee Piggledee. 


CHAPTER VI 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND HIGGLEDEE PIGGLEDEE 

One day Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice 
old gentleman rabbit, was sitting in an easy chair 
in the hollow-stump house of the Bushytail 
squirrel family, where he was paying a visit to 
Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the two squirrel 
boys. 

There came a knock on the door, but the 
bunny uncle did not pay much attention to it, 
as he was sort of taking a little sleep after his 
dinner of cabbage soup with carrot ice cream 
on top. 

Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady 
housekeeper, went out in the hall, and when she 
came back, with her tail all tied up in a pink rib- 
bon, (for she was sweeping) she said: 

“ Uncle Wiggily, a friend of yours has come 
to see you.” 

“ A friend of mine! ” cried Uncle Wiggily, 
awakening so suddenly that his nose stopped 
45 


46 Uncle Wiggily and Higgledee Piggledee 


twinkling. ‘‘ I hope it isn’t the bad old fox from 
the Orange Mountains.” 

‘‘ No,” answered Nurse Jane with a smile, 
“ it is a lady.” 

“ A lady? ” exclaimed the old rabbit gentle- 
man, getting up quickly, and looking in the 
glass to see that his ears were not criss-crossed. 

Who can it be? ” 

‘‘ It is Mother Goose,” went on Nurse Jane. 
“ She says you were so kind as to help Little Boy 
Blue the other day, when his horn was frozen, 
and you thawed it on the warm pie, that perhaps 
you will now help her. She is in trouble.” 

“ In trouble, eh? ” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, 
sort of smoothing down his vest, fastidious like 
and stylish. “ I didn’t know she blew a horn.” 

“ She doesn’t,” said Nurse Jane. “ But I’ll 
bring her in and she can tell you, herself, what 
she wants.” 

“ Oh, Uncle Wiggily! ” cried Mother Goose, 
as she set her broom down in one corner, for she 
never went out unless she carried it with her. 
She said she never could tell when she might 
have to sweep the cobwebs out of the sky. Oh, 
Uncle Wiggily, I am in such a lot of trouble I ” 

“ Well, I will be very glad to help you if I 
can,” said the bunny uncle. “ What is it? ” 


Uncle Wiggily and Higgledee Piggledee 47 


It’s about Higgledee Piggledee,” answered 
Mother Goose. 

‘‘Higgledee Piggledee!” exclaimed Uncle 
Wiggily, “ why that sounds like ” 

“ She’s my black hen,” went on Mother Goose. 
‘‘ You know how the verse goes in the book 
about me and my friends.” 

And, taking off her tall peaked hat, which she 
wore when she rode on the back of the old gan- 
der, Mother Goose sang: 

“ Higgledee Piggledee, my black hen, 

She lays eggs for gentlemen. 

Sometimes nine and sometimes ten. 
Higgledee Piggledee, my black hen. 
Gentlemen come every day. 

To see what my black hen doth lay.” 

Well,” asked Uncle Wiggily, ‘‘ what is the 
trouble? Has Higgledee Piggledee stopped 
laying? If she has I am afraid I can’t help you, 
for hens don’t lay many eggs in winter, you 
know.” 

“Oh, it isn’t that!” said Mother Goose, 
quickly. “ Higgledee Piggledee lays as many 
eggs as ever for gentlemen — sometimes nine and 
sometimes ten. But the trouble is the gentlemen 
don’t get them.” 


48 Uncle Wiggily and Higgledee Piggledee 


“ Don’t they come for them? ” asked Uncle 
Wiggily, sort of puzzled like and wondering. 

“ Oh, yes, they come every day,” said Mother 
Goose, but there are no eggs for them. Some 
one else is getting the eggs Higgledee Piggledee 
lays.” 

“ Do you s’pose she eats them herself? ” asked 
the old rabbit gentleman, in a whisper. Hens 
sometimes do, you know.” 

“ Not Higgledee Piggledee,” quickly spoke 
Mother Goose. ‘‘ She is too good to do that. 
She and I are both worried about the missing 
eggs, and as you have been so kind I thought 
perhaps you could help us.” 

“ I’ll try,” Uncle Wiggily said. 

“ Then come right along to Higgledee Pig- 
gledee’s coop,” invited Mother Goose. “ Maybe 
you can find out where her eggs go to. She lays 
them in her nest, comes off, once in a while, to 
get something to eat, but when she goes back to 
lay more eggs the first ones are gone.” 

Uncle Wiggily twinkled his nose, tied his ears 
in a hard knot, as he always did when he was 
thinking, and then, putting on his fur coat and 
taking his rheumatism crutch with him, he went 
out with Mother Goose. 

Uncle Wiggily rode in his airship, made of 


Uncle Wiggily and Higgledee Piggledee 49 


a clothes-basket, with toy circus balloons on top, 
and Mother Goose rode on the back of a big 
gander, who was a brother to Grandfather 
Goosey Gander. Soon they were at the hen coop 
where Higgledee Piggledee lived. 

“ Oh, Uncle Wiggily, I am so glad you 
came ! ” cackled the black hen. ‘‘ Did Mother 
Goose tell you about the egg trouble? 

‘‘ She did, Higgledee Piggledee, and I will 
see if I can stop it. Now, you go on the nest and 
lay some eggs and then we will see what hap- 
pens,’’ spoke Uncle Wiggily. 

So Higgledee Piggledee, the black hen, laid 
some eggs for gentlemen, and then she went out 
in the yard to get some corn to eat, just as she 
always did. And, while she was gone. Uncle 
Wiggily hid himself in some straw in the hen 
coop. Pretty soon the old gentleman heard a 
gnawing, rustling sound and up out of a hole in 
the ground popped two big rats, with red eyes. 

“ Did Higgledee Piggledee lay any eggs to- 
day? ” asked one rat, in a whisper. 

“ Yes,” spoke the other, “ she did.” 

“ Then we will take them,” said the first rat. 
‘‘ Hurray! More eggs for us! No gentlemen 
will get these eggs because we’ll take them our- 
selves. Hurray!” 


50 Uncle Wiggily and Higgledee Piggledee 


He got down on his back, with his paws stick- 
ing up in the air. Then the other rat rolled one 
of the black hen’s eggs over so the first rat could 
hold it in among his four legs. Next, the second 
rat took hold of the first rat’s tail and began pull- 
ing him along, egg and all, just as if he were a 
sled on a slippery hill, the rat sliding on his back 
over the smooth straw. And the eggs rode on 
the rat-sled as nicely as you please. 

Ha! ” cried Uncle Wiggily, jumping sud- 
denly out of his hiding-place. “ So this is where 
Higgledee Piggledee’s eggs have been going, 
eh? You rats have been taking them. Scatt! 
Shoo 1 Boo 1 Skedaddle I Scoot 1 ” 

And the rats were so scared that they skedad- 
dled away and shooed themselves and did every- 
thing else Mr. Longears told them to do, and 
they took no eggs that day. Then Uncle Wig- 
gily showed Mother Goose the rat hole, and it 
was stopped up with stones so the rats could not 
come in the coop again. And ever after that 
Higgledee Piggledee, the black hen, could lay 
eggs for gentlemen, sometimes nine and some- 
times ten, and there was no more trouble as there 
had been before Uncle Wiggily caught the rats 
and made them skedaddle. 


Uncle Wiggily and Higgledee Piggledee 51 


So Mother Goose and the black hen thanked 
Uncle Wiggily very much. And if the stylish 
lady who lives next door doesn't take our feather 
bed to wear on her hat when she goes to the mov- 
ing pictures, Fll tell you next about Uncle Wig- 
gily and Little Bo Peep. 


CHAPTER VII 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND LITTLE BO PEEP 

“ What are you going to do, Nurse Jane? 
asked Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gen- 
tleman, as he saw the muskrat lady housekeeper 
going out in the kitchen one morning, with an 
apron on, and a dab of white flour on the end of 
her nose. 

“ I am going to make a chocolate cake with 
carrot icing on top,” replied Miss Fuzzy 
Wuzzy. 

“ Oh, good! ” cried Uncle Wiggily, and al- 
most before he knew it he started to clap his 
paws, just as Sammie and Susie Littletail, the 
rabbit children, might have done, and as they 
often did do when they were pleased about any- 
thing. “ I just love chocolate cake I ” cried the 
bunny uncle, who was almost like a boy-bunny 
himself. 

“ Do you? ” asked Nurse Jane. ‘‘ Then I am 
glad I am going to make one,” and, going into 
the kitchen of the hollow-stump bungalow, she 

52 


Uncle Wiggily and Little Bo Peep 53 


began rattling away among the pots, pans and 
kettles. 

For now Nurse Jane and Uncle Wiggily were 
living together once more in their own hollow- 
stump bungalow. It had burned down, you re- 
member, but Uncle Wiggily had had it built up 
again, and now he did not have to visit around 
among his animal friends, though he still called 
on them every now and then. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” suddenly cried Nurse Jane from 
the kitchen. “ Oh, dear ! 

“ What is the matter. Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy? ’’ 
asked the bunny uncle. “ Did you drop a pan 
on your paw? ” 

“ No, Uncle Wiggily,” answered the muskrat 
lady. It is worse than that. I can’t make the 
chocolate cake after all, I am sorry to say.” 

“Oh, dear! That is too bad! Why not?” 
asked the bunny uncle, in a sad and sorrowful 
voice. 

“ Because there is no chocolate,” went on 
Nurse Jane. “ Since we came to our new hol- 
low-stump bungalow I have not made any cakes, 
and to-day I forgot to order the chocolate from 
the store for this one.” 

“ Never mind,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. 
“ I’ll go to the store and get the chocolate for 


54 Uncle Wiggily and Little Bo Peep 


you. In fact, I would go to two stores and part 
of another one for the sake of having a chocolate 
cake.’' 

“ All right,” spoke Nurse Jane. '' If you get 
me the chocolate Fll make one.” 

Putting on his overcoat, with his tall silk hat 
tied down over his ears so they would not blow 
away — I mean so his hat would not blow off — 
and with his rheumatism crutch under his paw, 
off started the old gentleman rabbit, across the 
fields and through the woods to the chocolate 
store. 

After buying what he wanted for Nurse Jane’s 
cake, the old gentleman rabbit started back for 
the hollow-stump bungalow. On the way, he 
passed a toy store, and he stopped to look in the 
window at the pop-guns, the spinning-tops, the 
dolls, the Noah’s Arks, with the animals march- 
ing out of them, and all things like that. 

“ It makes me young again to look at toys,” 
said the bunny uncle. Then he went on a little 
farther until, all at once, as he was passing a 
bush, he heard from behind it the sound of cry- 
ing. 

Ha! Some one in trouble again,” said 
Uncle Wiggily. “ I wonder if it can be Little 
Boy Blue? ” He looked, but, instead of seeing 


Uncle Wiggily and Little Bo Peep 55 


the sheep-boy, whom he had once helped, Uncle 
Wiggily saw a little girl. 

“Ha! Who are you?'’ the bunny uncle 
asked, “ and what is the matter? " 

“ I am Little Bo Peep,” was the answer, “ and 
I have lost my sheep, and don't know where to 
find them.'' 

“ Why, let them alone, and they'll come home, 
wagging their tails behind them,'' said Uncle 
Wiggily quickly, and he laughed jolly like and 
happy, because he had made a rhyme to go with 
what Bo Peep said. 

“ Yes, I know that's the way it is in the Mother 
Goose book,'' said Little Bo Peep, “ but I've 
waited and waited, and let them alone ever so 
long, but they haven't come home. And now 
I'm afraid they'll freeze.'' 

“Ha! That's so. It /V pretty cold for sheep 
to be out,'' said Uncle Wiggily, as he looked 
across the snow-covered field, and toward the 
woods where there were icicles hanging down 
from the trees. 

“ Look here. Little Bo Peep,'' went on the 
bunny uncle. “ I think your sheep must have 
gone home long ago, wagging their tails behind 
them. And you, too, had better run home to 
Mother Goose. Tell her you met me and that 


56 Uncle Wiggily and Little Bo Peep 


I sent you home. And, if I find your sheep, Fll 
send them along, too. So don’t worry.” 

“ Oh, but I don’t like to go home without my 
sheep,” said Bo Peep, and tears came into her 
eyes. “ I ought to bring them with me. But to- 
day I went skating on Crystal Lake, up in the 
Lemon-Orange Mountains, and I forgot all 
about my sheep. Now I am afraid to go home 
without them. Oh, dear ! ” 

Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute, then he 
said: 

“ Ha ! I have it ! I know where I can get 
you some sheep to take home with you. Then 
Mother Goose will say it is all right. Come 
with me.” 

‘‘ Where are you going? ” asked Bo Peep. 

“ To get you some sheep.” And Uncle Wig- 
gily led the little shepardess girl back to the toy 
store, in the window of which he had stopped to 
look a while ago. 

‘‘ Give Bo Peep some of your toy woolly 
sheep, if you please,” said Uncle Wiggily to the 
toy store man. ‘‘ She can take them home with 
her, while her own sheep are safe in some warm 
place. Pm sure. But now she must have some 
sort of sheep to take home with her in place of 
the lost ones, so it will come out all right, as it is 


Uncle Wiggily and Little Bo Peep 57 


in the book. And these toy woolly sheep will 
do as well as any; won’t they, Little Bo Peep? ” 

“ Oh, yes, they will ; thank you very much. 
Uncle Wiggily,” answered Bo Peep, making a 
pretty little bow. Then the rabbit gentleman 
bought her ten little toy, woolly sheep, each one 
with a tail which Bo Peep could wag for them, 
and one toy lamb went: “ Baa! Baa! Baa! ” as 
real as anything, having a little phonograph 
talking machine inside him. 

“Now I can go home to Mother Goose and 
make believe these are my lost sheep,” said Bo 
Peep, “ and it will be all right.” 

“ And here is a piece of chocolate for you to 
eat,” said Uncle Wiggily. Then Bo Peep hur- 
ried home with her fleecy toy sheep, and, later 
on, she found her real ones, all nice and warm, in 
the barn where the Cow with the Crumpled 
Horn lived. Mother Goose laughed in her j oi- 
liest way when she saw the toy sheep Uncle Wig- 
gily had bought Bo Peep. 

“ It’s just like him! ” said Mother Goose. 

And if the goldfish doesn’t climb out of his 
tank and hide in the sardine tin, where the stuffed 
olives can’t find him. I’ll tell you next about 
Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker. 


CHAPTER VIII 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND TOMMIE TUCKER 

‘‘Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” called Susie Little- 
tail, the rabbit girl, one day, as she went over to 
see her bunny uncle in his hollow-stump bunga- 
low. “ Oh, Uncle Wiggily ! Isn’t it too bad? ” 

“ Isn’t what too bad? ” asked the old gentle- 
man rabbit, as he scratched his nose with his left 
ear, and put his glasses in his pocket, for he was 
tired of reading the paper, and felt like going out 
for a walk. 

“ Too bad about my talking and singing doll, 
that I got for Christmas,” said Susie. “ She 
won’t sing any more. Something inside her is 
broken.” 

“ Broken? That’s too bad I ” said Uncle Wig- 
gily, kindly. “ Let me see. What’s her name? ” 

“ Sallieann Peachbasket Shortcake,” an- 
swered Susie. 

“ What a funny name,” laughed the bunny 
uncle. 

Uncle Wiggily took Susie’s doll, which had 
been given her at Christmas, and looked at it. 

58 


Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker 59 


Inside the doll was a sort of phonograph, or talk- 
ing machine — a very small one, you know — and 
when you pushed on a little button in back of 
the dolFs dress she would laugh and talk. But, 
best of all, when she was in working order, she 
would sing a verse, which went something like 
this: 


“ I hope you'll like my little song, 

I will not sing it very long. 

I have two shoes upon my feet. 

And when Fm hungry, then I eat." 

Uncle Wiggily wound up the spring in the 
doll’s side, and then he pressed the button — like 
a shoe button — in her back. But this time Susie’s 
doll did not talk, she did not laugh, and, instead 
of singing, she only made a scratchy noise like a 
phonograph when it doesn’t want to play, or like 
Bully No-Tail, the frog boy, when he has a cold 
in his head. 

“ Oh, dear ! This is quite too bad ! ’’ said 
Uncle Wiggily. “ Quite indeed.’’ 

Isn’t it I ’’ exclaimed Susie. “ Do you think 
you can fix her. Uncle? ’’ 

Mr. Longears turned the doll upside down 
and shook her. Things rattled inside her, but 
even then she did not sing. 


6o Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker 


“ Oh, dear ! ” cried Susie, her little pink nose 
going twinkle-inkle, just as did Uncle Wiggily’s. 
“ What can we do? ” 

You leave it to me, Susie,'’ spoke the old rab- 
bit gentleman. “ I’ll take the doll to the toy shop, 
where I bought Little Bo Peep’s sheep, and have 
her mended.” 

“ Oh, goodie ! ” cried Susie, clasping her 
paws. “ Now I know it will be all right,” and 
she kissed Uncle Wiggily right between his ears. 

“ Well, I’m sure I hope it will be all right after 
that** said the bunny uncle, laughing, and feel- 
ing sort of tickled inside. 

Off hopped Uncle Wiggily to the toy shop, 
and there he found the same monkey-doodle gen- 
tleman who had sold him the toy woolly sheep 
for Little Bo Peep. 

“ Here is more trouble,” said Uncle Wiggily. 
“ Can you fix Susie’s doll so she will sing, for 
the doll is a little girl one, just like Susie, and 
her name is Sallieann Peachbasket Shortcake.” 

The monkey-doodle man in the toy store 
looked at the doll. 

“ I can fix her,” he said. Going in his back- 
room workshop, where there were rocking- 
horses that needed new legs, wooden soldiers 
who had lost their guns, and steamboats that had 


Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker 6l 


forgotten their whistles, the toy man soon had 
Susie^s doll mended again as well as ever. So 
that she said : ‘‘ Papa ! Mama ! I love you I I 
am hungry!” And she laughed: “Ha! Ha! 
Ho! Ho! ” and she sang: 

“ I am a little dollie, 

'Bout one year old. 

Please take me where it's warm, for I 
Am feeling rather cold. 

If you're not in a hurry. 

It won't take me very long. 

To whistle or to sing for you 
My pretty little song.” 

“ Hurray! ” cried Uncle Wiggily when he 
heard this. “ Susie's dolly is all right again. 
Thank you, Mr. Monkey-Doodle, I'll take her 
to Susie.” Then Uncle Wiggily paid the toy- 
store keeper and hurried off with Susie's doll. 

Uncle Wiggily had not gone very far before, 
all at once from around the corner of a snow- 
bank he heard a sad, little voice crying: 

“ Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Oh, dear! ” 

“ My goodness ! ” said the bunny uncle. 
“ Some one else is in trouble. I wonder who it 
can be this time? ” 


62 Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker 


He looked, and saw a little boy standing in 
the snow. 

“ Hello ! ’’ cried Uncle Wiggily, in his jolly 
voice. “ Who are you, and what’s the matter? ” 
I am Little Tommie Tucker,” was the an- 
swer. And the matter is I’m hungry.” 

‘‘ Hungry, eh? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 
‘‘ Well, why don’t you eat? ” 

‘‘ I guess you forgot about me and the Mother 
Goose book,” spoke the boy. ‘‘ I’m in that book, 
and it says about me : 

‘ Little Tommie Tucker, 

Must sing for his supper. 

What shall he eat? 

Jam and bread and butter.’ ” 

‘‘ Well? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. “ Why 
don’t you sing? ” 

“ I — I can’t ! ” answered Tommie. “ That’s 
the trouble. I have caught such a cold that I 
can’t sing. And if I don’t sing Mother Goose 
won’t know it is I, and she won’t give me any 
supper. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! And I am so 
hungry ! ” 

“ There now, there ! Don’t cry,” kindly said 
the bunny uncle, patting Tommie Tucker on the 


Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker 63 


head. “ Fll soon have you singing for your sup- 
per.’' 

“ But how can you when I have such a cold? ” 
asked the little boy. “ Listen. I am as hoarse 
as a crow.” 

And, truly, he could no more sing than a 
rusty gate, or a last year’s door-knob. 

“ Ah, I can soon fix that! ” said Uncle Wig- 
gily. “ See, here I have Susie Littletail’s talking 
and singing doll, which I have just had mended. 
Now you take the doll in your pocket, go to 
Mother Goose, and when she asks you to sing 
for your supper, just push the button in the doll’s 
back. Then the doll will sing and Mother Goose 
will think it is you, and give you bread and jam.” 

“ Oh, how fine I ” cried Tommie Tucker. 

I’ll do it!” 

“ But afterward,” said Uncle Wiggily, slowly 
shaking his paw at Tommie, “ afterward you 
must tell Mother Goose all about the little joke 
you played, or it would not be fair. Tell her the 
doll sang and not you.” 

“ I will,” said Tommie. He and Uncle Wig- 
gily went to Mother Goose’s house, and when 
Tommie had to sing for his supper the doll did 
it for him. And when Mother Goose heard 


64 Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker 


about it she said it was a fine trick, and that 
Uncle Wiggily was very good to think of it. 

Then the bunny uncle took Susie’s mended 
doll to her, and the next day Tommie’s cold was 
all better and he could sing for his supper him- 
self, just as the book tells about. 

And if the little mouse doesn’t go to sleep in 
the cat’s cradle and scare the milk bottle so it 
rolls off the back stoop. I’ll tell you next about 
Uncle Wiggily and Pussy Cat Mole. 





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CHAPTER IX 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND PUSSY CAT MOLE 

“Oh, dear! I don’t believe he’s ever com- 
ing! ” said Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the musk- 
rat lady housekeeper, as she stood at the win- 
dow of the hollow-stump bungalow one day, and 
looked down through the woods. 

“ For whom are you looking. Nurse Jane? ” 
asked Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gen- 
tleman. “ If it’s for the letter-man, I think he 
went past some time ago.” 

“ No, I wasn’t looking for the letter-man,” 
said the muskrat lady. “ I am expecting a mes- 
senger-boy cat to bring home my new dress from 
the dressmaker’s, but I don’t see him.” 

“ A new dress, eh? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 
“ Pray, what is going on? ” 

“ My dress is going on me, as soon as it comes 
home. Uncle Wiggily,” the muskrat lady an- 
swered, laughingly. “ And then I am going 
on over to the house of Mrs. Wibblewobble, the 
duck lady. She and I are going to have a little 
tea party together, if you don’t mind.” 

65 


66 Uncle Wiggily and Pussy Cat Mole 


“Mind? Certainly not! Fm glad to have 
you go out and enjoy yourself,” said Uncle Wig- 
gily, jolly like and also laughing. 

“ But I can’t go if my new dress doesn’t come,” 
went on Nurse Jane. “ That is, I don’t want to.” 

“ Look here! ” said the bunny uncle, “ Fll 
tell you what Fll do, Nurse Jane, Fll go for your 
dress myself and bring it home. I have noth- 
ing to do. Fll go get your dress at the dress- 
maker’s.” 

“ Will you, really? ” cried the muskrat lady. 
“ That will be fine! Then I can curl my whis- 
kers and tie a new pink bow for my tail. You 
are very good. Uncle Wiggily.” 

“ Oh, not at all ! Not at all ! ” the rabbit gen- 
tleman said, modest like and shy. Then he 
hopped out of the hollow-stump bungalow and 
across the fields and through the woods to where 
Nurse Jane’s dressmaker made dresses. 

“Oh, yes. Nurse Jane’s dress!” exclaimed 
Mrs. Spin-Spider, who wove silk for all the 
dresses worn by the lady animals of Woodland. 
“ Yes, I have just finished it. I was about to call 
a messenger-boy cat and send it home, but now 
you are here you may take it. And here is some 
cloth I had left over. Nurse Jane might want it 
if ever she tears a hole in her dress.” 


Uncle Wiggily and Pussy Cat Mole 67 


Uncle Wiggily put the extra pieces of cloth 
in his pocket, and then Mrs. Spin-Spider 
wrapped Nurse Jane’s dress up nicely for him 
in tissue paper, as fine as the web which she had 
spun for the silk, and the rabbit gentleman 
started back to the hollow-stump bungalow. 

Mrs. Spin-Spider lived on Second Mountain, 
and, as Uncle Wiggily’s bungalow was on First 
Mountain, he had quite a way to go to get home. 
And when he was about half way there he passed 
a little house near a gray rock that looked like 
an eagle, and in the house he heard a voice say- 
ing: 

“ Oh, dear I Oh, isn’t it too bad? Now I 
can’t go ! ” 

“ Ha! I wonder who that can be? ” thought 
the rabbit gentleman. It sounds like some one 
in trouble. I will ask if I can do anything to 
help.” 

The rabbit gentleman knocked on the door 
of the little house, and a voice said: 

Come in!” 

Uncle Wiggily entered, and there in the 
middle of the room he saw a pussy cat lady hold- 
ing up a dress with a big hole burned in it. 

“ I beg your pardon, but who are you and 


68 Uncle Wiggily and Pussy Cat Mole 


what is the matter? ” politely asked the bunny 
uncle, making a low bow. 

“ My name is Pussy Cat Mole,’’ was the an- 
swer, ‘‘ and you can see the trouble for yourself. 
I am Pussy Cat Mole; I jumped over a coal, 
and ” 

“ In your best petticoat burned a great hole,” 
finished Uncle Wiggily. “ I know you, now. 
You are from Mother Goose’s book and I met 
you at a party in Belleville, where they have a 
bluebell flower on the school to call the animal 
children to their lessons.” 

‘‘ That’s it ! ” meowed Pussy Cat Mole. “ I 
am glad you remember me. Uncle Wiggily. It 
was at a party I met you, and now I am going 
to another. Or, rather, I was going until I 
jumped over a coal, and in my best petticoat 
burned a great hole. Now I can’t go,” and she 
held up the burned dress, sorrowful like and sad. 

“ How did you happen to jump over the 
coal? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Oh, it fell out of my stove,” said Pussy Cat 
Mole, “ and I jumped over it in a hurry to get 
the fire shovel to take it up. That’s how I burned 
my dress. And now I can’t go to the party, for 
it was my best petticoat, and Mrs. Wibble- 
wobble, the duck lady, asked me to be there early, 


Uncle Wiggily and Pussy Cat Mole 69 


too ; and now — Oh, dear ! and Pussy Cat Mole 
felt very badly, indeed. 

“ Mrs. Wibblewobble's ! ” cried Uncle Wig- 
gily. “ Why, Nurse Jane is going there to a 
little tea party, too I This is her new dress I am 
taking home.^’ 

“ Has she burned a hole in it? ” asked the 
pussy cat lady. 

No, she has not, I am glad to say,” the bunny 
uncle replied. “ She hasn’t had it on, yet.” 

“ Then she can go to the party, but I can’t,” 
said Pussy Cat Mole, sorrowfully. “ Oh, dear ! ” 

“Yes, you can go!” suddenly cried Uncle 
Wiggily. “See here! I have some extra pieces 
of cloth, left over when Mrs. Spin-Spider made 
Nurse Jane’s dress. Now you can take these 
pieces of cloth and mend the hole burned by 
the coal in your best petticoat. Then you can 
go to the party.” 

“ Oh, so I can,” meowed the pussy cat. So, 
with a needle and thread, and the cloth she 
mended her best petticoat. 

All around the edges and over the top of the 
burned hole the pussy cat lady sewed the left- 
over pieces of Nurse Jane’s dress which was al- 
most the same color. Then, when the mended 


70 Uncle Wiggily and Pussy Cat Mole 


place was pressed with a warm flat-iron, Uncle 
Wiggily cried: 

You would never know there had been a 
burned hole ! ” 

“ That’s fine I ” meowed Pussy Cat Mole. 
“ Thank you so much, Uncle Wiggily, for help- 
ing me! ” 

“ Pray do not mention it,” said the rabbit gen- 
tleman, bashful like and casual. Then he hur- 
ried to the hollow-stump bungalow with Nurse 
Jane’s dress, and the muskrat lady said he had 
done just right to help mend Pussy Cat Mole’s 
dress with the left-over pieces. So she and 
Nurse Jane both went to Mrs. Wibblewobble’s 
little tea party, and had a good time. 

And so, you see, it came out just as it did in 
the book: Pussy Cat Mole jumped over a coal, 
and in her best petticoat burned a great hole. 
But the hole it was mended, and my story is 
ended. Only never before was it known how the 
hole was mended. Uncle Wiggily did it. 

And, if the apple doesn’t jump out of the 
peach dumpling and hide in the lemon pie when 
the knife and fork try to play tag with it. I’ll tell 
you next about Uncle Wiggily and Jack and 
Jill, and it will be a Valentine story. 


CHAPTER X 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACK AND JILL 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old gen- 
tleman rabbit, was asleep in an easy chair in 
his hollow-stump bungalow one morning when 
he heard some one calling: 

Hi, Jack! Ho, Jill! Where are you? Come 
at once, if you please ! '' 

‘‘ Ha ! What’s that? Some one calling me? ” 
asked the bunny uncle, sitting up so suddenly 
that he knocked over his red, white and blue' 
striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch that 
Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady 
housekeeper, had gnawed for him out of a corn- 
stalk. “ Is any one calling me? ” asked Mr. 
Longears. 

“ No,” answered Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. 
“ That’s Mother Goose calling Jack and Jill to 
get a pail of water.” 

“Oh! is that all?” asked the rabbit gentle- 
man, rubbing his pink eyes and making his nose 
twinkle like the sharp end of an ice cream cone. 

71 


72 Uncle Wiggily and Jack and Jill 


“ Just Mother Goose calling Jack and Jill; eh? 
Well, I’ll go out and see if I can find them for 
her.” 

Uncle Wiggily was always that way, you 
know, wanting to help some one. This time it 
was Mother Goose. His new hollow-stump 
bungalow was built right near where Mother 
Goose lived, with all her big family; Peter-Peter 
Pumpkin-Eater, Little Jack Horner, Bo Peep 
and many others. 

‘‘Ho, Jack! Hi, Jill! Where are you?” 
called Mother Goose, as Uncle Wiggily came 
out of his hollow stump. 

“ Can’t you find those two children? ” asked 
the rabbit gentleman, making a polite good 
morning bow. 

“ I am sorry to say I cannot,” answered 
Mother Goose. “ They were over to see the Old 
Woman Who Lives in a Shoe, a while ago, but 
where they are now I can’t guess, and I need a 
pail of water for Simple Simon to go fishing in, 
for to catch a whale.” 

“ Oh, I’ll get the water for you,” said Uncle 
Wiggily, taking the pail. “ Perhaps Jack and 
Jill are off playing somewhere, and they have 
forgotten all about getting the water.” 

“ And I suppose they’ll forget about tumbling 


Uncle Wiggily and Jack and Jill 73 


down hill, too,” went on Mother Goose, sort of 
nervous like. “ But they must not. If they don’t 
fall down, so Jack can break his crown, it won’t 
be like the story in my book, and everything will 
be upside down.” 

“ So Jack has to break his crown; eh? ” asked 
Uncle Wiggily. “ That’s too bad. I hope he 
won’t hurt himself too much.” 

“ Oh, he’s used to it by this time,” Mother 
Goose said. “ He doesn’t mind falling, nor does 
Jill mind tumbling down after.” 

“ Very well, then. I’ll get the pail of water 
for you,” spoke the bunny uncle, “ and Jack and 
Jill can do the tumbling-down-hill part.” 

Uncle Wiggily took the water pail and started 
for the hill, on top of which was the well owned 
by Mother Goose. As the bunny uncle was 
walking along he suddenly heard a voice calling 
to him from behind a bush. 

Oh, Uncle Wiggily, will you do me a 
favor? ” 

“ I certainly will,” said Mr. Longears, “ but 
who are you, and where are you? ” 

“ Here I am, over here,” the voice went on. 
“ I’m Jack, and will you please give this to Jill 
when you see her? ” 

Out from behind the bush stepped Jack, the 


74 Uncle Wiggily and Jack and Jill 


little Mother Goose boy. In his hand he held a 
piece of white birch bark, prettily colored red, 
green and pink, and on it was a little verse which 
read: 

“ Can you tell me, pretty maid. 

Tell me and not be afraid. 

Who’s the sweetest girl, and true? — 

I can; for she’s surely you! ” 

“ What’s this? What’s this? ” asked Uncle 
Wiggily, in surprise. “ What’s this? ” 

“ It’s a valentine for Jill,” said Jack. “ To- 
day is Valentine’s Day, you see, but I don’t want 
Jill to know I sent it, so I went off here and hid 
until I could see you to ask you to take it to her.” 

‘‘ All right. I’ll do it,” Uncle Wiggily said, 
laughing. “ I’ll take your valentine to Jill for 
you. So that’s why you weren’t ’round to get 
the pail of water; is it? ” 

“ Yes,” answered Jack. “ I wanted to finish 
making my valentine. As soon as you give it 
to Jill I’ll get the water.” 

“ Oh, never mind that,” said the bunny uncle. 
‘‘ I’ll get the water, just you do the falling-down- 
hill part. I’m too old for that.” 

‘‘ I will,” promised Jack. Then Uncle Wig- 
gily went on up the hill, and pretty soon he 


Uncle Wiggily and Jack and Jill 75 


heard some one else calling him, and, all of a 
sudden, out from behind a stump stepped Jill, 
the little Mother Goose girl. 

“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” said Jill, bashfully 
holding out a pretty red leaf, shaped like a heart, 
“ will you please give this to Jack. I don’t want 
him to know I sent it.” 

“ Of course. I’ll give it to him,” promised the 
rabbit gentleman. “ It’s a valentine, I suppose, 
and here is something for you,” and while Jill 
was reading the valentine Jack had sent her, 
Uncle Wiggily looked at the red heart-shaped 
leaf. On it Jill had written in blue ink: 

“ One day when I went to school. 

Teacher taught to me this rule: 

Eight and one add up to nine ; 

So I’ll be your valentine.” 

“My, that’s nice!” said Uncle Wiggily, 
laughing. “ So that’s why you’re hiding off here 
for, Jill, to make a valentine for Jack? ” 

“ That’s it,” Jill answered, blushing sort of 
pink, like the frosting on a strawberry cake. 
“ But I don’t want Jack to know it.” 

“ I’ll never tell him,” said Uncle Wiggily. 

So he went on up the hill to get a pail of water 
for Mother Goose. And on his way back he 


76 Uncle Wiggily and Jack and Jill 


gave Jill’s valentine to Jack, who liked it very 
much. 

“ And now, since you got the water, Jill 
and I will go tumble down hill,” said Jack, as 
he found the little girl, where she was reading 
his valentine again. Up the hill they went, near 
the well of water, and Jack fell down, and broke 
his crown, while Jill came tumbling after, while 
Uncle Wiggily looked on and laughed. So it 
all happened just as it did in the book, you see. 

Mother Goose was very glad Uncle Wiggily 
had brought the water for Simple Simon to go 
fishing in, and that afternoon she gave a valen- 
tine party for Sammie and Susie Littletail, the 
Bushytail squirrel brothers, Nannie and Billie 
Wagtail, the goats, and all the other animal 
friends of Uncle Wiggily. And every one had 
a fine time. 

And if the cup doesn’t jump out of the saucer 
and hide in the spoonholder, where the coffee 
cake can’t find it. I’ll tell you next about Uncle 
Wiggily and little Jack Horner. 


CHAPTER XI 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACK HORNER 

‘‘ Well, I think I’ll go for a walk,” said Uncle 
Longears, the rabbit gentleman, one 
afternoon, when he was sitting out on the front 
porch of his hollow-stump bungalow. He had 
just eaten a nice dinner that Nurse Jane Fuzzy 
Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, had got- 
ten ready for him. 

‘‘Go for a walk!” exclaimed Nurse Jane. 
“ Why, Mr. Longears, excuse me for saying so, 
but you went walking this morning.” 

“ I know I did,” answered the bunny uncle, 
“ but no adventure happened to me then. I 
don’t really count it a good day unless I have had 
an adventure. So I’ll go walking again, and 
perhaps I may find one. If I do. I’ll come home 
and tell you all about it.” 

“ All right,” said Nurse Jane. “ You are a 
funny rabbit, to be sure I Going off in the woods, 
looking for adventures when you might sit 
quietly here on the bungalow front porch.” 

77 


78 Uncle Wiggily and Jack Horner 


“That’s just it!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. 
“ I don’t like to be too quiet. Off I go ! ” 

“ I hope you have a nice adventure I ” Nurse 
Jane called after him. 

“ Thank you,” answered Uncle Wiggily, po- 
litely. 

Away over the fields and through the woods 
went the bunny uncle, looking on all sides for 
an adventure, when, all of a sudden he heard be- 
hind him a sound that went : 

“Honk! Honk! Honkity-honk-honk! ” 

“ Ha! That must be a wild goose! ” thought 
the rabbit gentleman. 

So he looked up in the air, over his head, where 
the wild geese always fly, but, instead of seeing 
any of the big birds. Uncle Wiggily felt some- 
thing whizz past him, and again he heard the 
loud “ Honk-honk! ” noise, and then he sneezed, 
for a lot of dust from the road flew up his nose. 

“ My! ” he heard some one cry. “ We nearly 
ran over a rabbit! Did you see? ” 

And a big automobile, with real people in it, 
shot past. It was the horn of the auto that Uncle 
Wiggily had heard, and not a wild goose. 

“ Ha ! That came pretty close to me,” thought 
Uncle Wiggily, as the auto went on down the 
road. “ I never ride my automobile as fast as 


Uncle Wiggily and Jack Horner 79 


that, even when I sprinkle pepper on the bo- 
logna sausage tires. I don’t like to scare any 
one. 

Perhaps the people in the auto did not mean 
to so nearly run over Uncle Wiggily. Let us 
hope so. 

The old gentleman rabbit hopped on down 
the road, that was between the woods and the 
fields, and, pretty soon, he saw something bright 
and shining in the dust, near where the auto had 
passed. 

“ Oh, maybe that’s a diamond,” he said, as he 
stooped over to pick it up. But it was only a 
shiny button-hook, and not a diamond at all. 
Some one in the automobile had dropped it. 

Well, I’ll put it in my pocket,” said Uncle 
Wiggily to himself. ‘‘ It may come in useful to 
button Nurse Jane’s shoes, or mine.” 

The bunny gentleman went on a little farther, 
and, pretty soon, he came to a tiny house, with 
a red chimney sticking up out of the roof. 

‘'Hal I wonder who lives there?” said 
Uncle Wiggily. 

He stood still for a moment, looking through 
his glasses at the house and then, all of a sud- 
den, he saw a little lady, with a tall, peaked hat 
on, run out and look up and down the road. Her 


8o Uncle Wiggily and Jack Horner 


hat was just like an ice cream cone turned up- 
side down. Only don’t turn your ice cream cone 
upside down if it has any cream in it, for you 
might spill your treat. 

‘‘Help! Help! Help !” cried the lady, who 
had come out of the house with the red chimney. 

“ Ha ! That sounds like trouble ! ” said Uncle 
Wiggily. “ I think I had better hurry over there 
and see what it is all about.” 

He hopped over toward the little house, and, 
when he reached it he saw that the little lady 
who was calling for help was Mother Goose her- 
self. 

“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” exclaimed Mother 
Goose. “ I am so glad to see you ! Will you 
please go for help for me? ” 

“ Why, certainly I will,” answered the bunny 
gentleman. “ But what kind of help do you 
want ; help for the kitchen, or a wash-lady help 
or ” 

“ Neither of those,” said Mother Goose. “ I 
want help so Little Jack Horner can get his 
thumb out of the pie.” 

“ Get his thumb out of the pie! ” cried Uncle 
Wiggily. “ What in the world do you mean? ” 

“ Why, you see it’s this way,” went on Mother 
Goose. “Jack Horner lives here. You must 


Uncle Wiggily and Jack Horner 8i 


have heard about him. He is in my book. His 
verse goes like this : 

“ Little Jack Horner 
Sat in a corner, 

Eating a Christmas pie. 

He put in his thumb, 

And pulled out a plum. 

And said what a great boy am 1. 

“ That’s the boy I mean,” cried Mother Goose. 
'' But the trouble is that Jack can’t get his thumb 
out. He put it in the pie, to pull out the plum, 
but it won’t come out — neither the plum nor the 
thumb. They are stuck fast for some reason or 
other. I wish you’d go for Dr. Possum, so he 
can help us.” 

I will,” said Uncle Wiggily. “ But is Jack 
Horner sitting in a corner, as it says in the 
book? ” 

“ Oh, he’s doing that all right,” answered 
Mother Goose. “ But, corner or no corner, he 
can’t pull out his thumb.” 

“ I’ll get the doctor at once,” promised the 
bunny uncle. He hurried over to Dr. Possum’s 
house, but could not find him, as Dr. Possum 
was, just then, called to see Jillie Longtail, who 
had the mouse-trap fever. 


82 Uncle Wiggily and Jack Horner 


Dr. Possum not in ! ” cried Mother Goose, 
when Uncle Wiggily had hopped back and told 
her. “ That’s too bad ! Oh, we must do some- 
thing for Jack. He’s crying and going on ter- 
ribly because he can’t get his thumb out.” 

Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute. Then, 
putting his paw in his pocket, he felt the button- 
hook which had dropped from the automobile 
that nearly ran over him. 

“ Ha ! I know what to do ! ” cried the bunny 
uncle, suddenly. 

What? ” asked Mother Goose. 

“ I’ll pull out Jack’s thumb myself, with this 
button-hook,” said Mr. Longears. “ I’ll make 
him all right without waiting for Dr. Possum.” 

Into the room, where, in the corner. Jack was 
sitting, went the bunny gentleman. There he 
saw the Christmas-pie boy, with his thumb away 
down deep under the top crust. 

‘‘ Oh, Uncle Wiggily! ” cried Jack. “ I’m in 
such trouble. Oh, dear ! I can’t get my thumb 
out. It must be caught on the edge of the pan, 
or something 1 ” 

“ Don’t cry,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. 
“ I’ll get it out for you.” 

So he put the button-hook through the hole 
in the top pie crust, close to Jack’s thumb. Then, 


Uncle Wiggily and Jack Horner 83 


getting the hook on the plum, Uncle Wiggily, 
with his strong paws, pulled and pulled and 
pulled, and 

All of a sudden out came the plum and Jack 
Horner’s thumb, and they weren’t stuck fast any 
more. 

‘‘ Oh, thank you, so much! ” said Jack, as he 
got up out of his corner. 

“ Pray don’t mention it,” spoke Uncle Wig- 
gily, politely. I am glad I could help you, and 
it also makes an adventure for me.” 

Then Jack Horner, went back to his corner 
and ate the plum that stuck to his thumb. And 
Uncle Wiggily, putting the button-hook back 
in his pocket, went on to his hollow-stump bun- 
galow. He had had his adventure. 

So everything came out all right, you see, and 
if the snow-shovel doesn’t go off by itself, slid- 
ing down hill with the ash can, when it ought 
to be boiling the cups and saucers for supper. 
I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and Mr. 
Pop-Goes. 


CHAPTER XII 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND MR. POP-GOES 

‘‘ Uncle Wiggily,” said Mrs. Litdetail, the 
rabbit lady, one morning, as she came in the 
dining-room where Mr. Longears was reading 
the cabbage leaf paper after breakfast, “ Uncle 
Wiggily, I don’t like you to go out in such a 
storm as this, but I do need some things from the 
store, and I have no one to send.” 

“ Why, I’ll be only too glad to go,” cried the 
bunny uncle, who was spending a few days vis- 
iting the Littletail family in their underground 
burrow-house. “ It isn’t snowing very hard,” 
and he looked out through the window, which 
was up a little way above ground to make the 
burrow light. “ What do you want, Mrs. Little- 
tail? ” he asked. 

“ Oh, I want a loaf of bread and some sugar,” 
said the bunny mother of Sammie and Susie Lit- 
tletail. 

“ And you shall certainly have what you 
want! ” cried Uncle Wiggily, as he got ready 
to go to the store. Soon he was on his way, wear- 
84 


Uncle Wiggily and Mr. Pop-Goes 85 


ing his fur coat, and hopping along on his corn- 
stalk rheumatism crutch, while his pink nose 
was twinkling in the frosty air like a red lantern 
on the back of an automobile. 

‘‘ A loaf of home-made bread and three and a 
half pounds of granulated sugar,’’ said Uncle 
Wiggily to the monkey-doodle gentleman who 
kept the grocery store. “ And the best that you 
have, if you please, as it’s for Mrs. Littletail.” 

“ You shall certainly have the best! ” cried the 
monkey-doodle gentleman, with a jolly laugh. 
And while he was wrapping up the things for 
Uncle Wiggily to carry home, all at once there 
sounded in the store a loud : 

‘‘ Pop!” 

“ My ! What’s that? ” asked Uncle Wiggily, 
surprised like and excited. “ I heard a bang like 
a gun. Are there any hunter-men, with their 
dogs about? If there are I must be careful.” 

No, that wasn’t a gun,” said the monkey- 
doodle gentleman. “ That was only one of the 
toy balloons in my window. I had some left 
over from last year, so I blew them up and put 
them in my window to make it look pretty. Now 
and then one of them bursts.” And just then, 
surely enough, “Pop! Bang!” went another 
toy balloon, bursting and shriveling all up. 


86 Uncle Wiggily and Mr. Pop-Goes 


Uncle Wiggily looked in the front window of 
the store and saw some blown-up balloons that 
had not burst. 

“ I’ll take two of those,” he said to the monkey- 
doodle gentleman. Sammie and Susie Little- 
tail will like to play with them.” 

“ Better take two or three,” said the monkey- 
doodle gentleman. “ I’ll let you have them 
cheap, as they are old balloons, and they will 
burst easily.” 

So he let the air out of four balloons and gave 
them to Uncle Wiggily to take home to the 
bunny children. 

The rabbit gentleman started off through the 
snow-storm toward the underground house, but 
he had not gone very far before, just as he was 
coming out from behind a big stump, he heard 
voices talking. 

“ Now, I’ll tell you how we can get those rab- 
bits,” Uncle Wiggily heard one voice say. “ I’ll 
crawl down in the burrow, and as soon as they 
see me they’ll be scared and run out — Uncle 
Wiggily, Mrs. Littletail, the two children. Nurse 
Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy and all. Then you can grab 
them, Mr. Bigtail! I am glad I happened to 
meet you I ” 

“ Ah, ha! ” thought Uncle Wiggily. “ Mr. 


Uncle Wiggily and Mr. Pop-Goes 87 


Bigtail! I ought to know that name. It’s the 
fox, and he and some one else seem to be after 
us rabbits. But I thought the fox promised to be 
good and let me alone. He must have changed 
his mind.” 

Uncle Wiggily peeked cautiously around the 
stump, taking care to make no noise, and there 
he saw a fox and another animal talking. And 
the rabbit gentleman saw that it was not the fox 
who had promised to be good, but another one, 
of the same name, who was bad. 

“ Yes, ril go down the hole and drive out the 
rabbits and you can grab them,” said the queer 
animal. 

That’s good,” growled the fox, “ but to 
whom have I the honor of speaking? ” That 
was his way of asking the name of the other ani- 
mal, you see. 

‘‘ Oh, I’m called Mr. Pop-Goes,” said the 
other. 

“ Mr. Pop-Goes ! What a queer name,” said 
the fox, and all the while Uncle Wiggily was 
listening with his big ears, and wondering what 
it all meant. 

“ Oh, Pop-Goes isn’t all my name,” said the 
queer animal. “ Don’t you know the story in 
the book? The monkey chased the cobbler’s 


88 Uncle Wiggily and Mr. Pop-Goes 


wife all around the steeple. That’s the way the 
money goes, Pop! goes the weasel. I’m Mr. 
Pop-Goes, the weasel, you see. I’m ’specially 
good at chasing rabbits.” 

“ Oh, I see 1 ” barked Mr. Pigtail, the fox. 
“ Well, I’ll be glad if you can help me get those 
rabbits. I’ve been over to that Uncle Wiggily ’s 
hollow-stump bungalow, but he isn’t around.” 

No, he’s visiting the Littletail rabbits,” said 
Mr. Pop-Goes, the weasel. “ But we’ll drive 
him out.” 

Then Uncle Wiggily felt very badly, indeed, 
for he knew that a weasel is the worst animal a 
rabbit can have after him. Weasels are very 
fond of rabbits. They love them so much they 
want to eat them, and Uncle Wiggily did not 
want to be eaten, even by Mr. Pop-Goes. 

“ Oh, dear! ” he thought. “ What can I do 
to scare away the bad fox and Mr. Pop-Goes, the 
weasel? Oh, dear! ” Then he thought of the 
toy balloons, that made a noise like a gun when 
they were blown up and burst. “ The very 
thing! ” thought the rabbit gentleman. 

Carefully, as he hid behind the stump, Uncle 
Wiggily took out one of the toy balloons. Care- 
fully he blew it up, bigger and bigger and 
bigger, until, all at once : 


Uncle Wiggily and Mr. Pop-Goes 89 


‘‘ Bang I ” exploded the toy balloon, even mak- 
ing Uncle Wiggily jump. And as for the fox 
and Mr. Pop-Goes, the weasel, why they were 
so kerslostrated (if you will kindly excuse me for 
using such a word) that they turned a somer- 
sault, jumped up in the air, came down, turned 
a peppersault, and started to run. 

“ Did you hear that noise? ” asked the weasel. 
‘‘ That was a pop, and whenever I hear a pop I 
have to go! And Fm going fast! 

So am I ! ” barked the fox. “ That v/as a 
hunter with a gun after us, I guess. Wedl get 
those rabbits some other time.” 

“ Maybe you will, and maybe not! ” laughed 
Uncle Wiggily, as he hurried on to the burrow 
with the bread, sugar and the rest of the toy bal- 
loons, with which Sammie and Susie had lots 
of fun. 

So you see Mr. Pop-Goes, the weasel, didn’t 
get Uncle Wiggily after all, and if the pepper 
caster doesn’t throw dust in the potato’s eyes, 
and make it sneeze at the rag doll, Fll tell you 
next about Uncle Wiggily and Simple Simon. 


CHAPTER XIII 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND SIMPLE SIMON 

“There!” exclaimed Nurse Jane Fuzzy 
Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, who, 
with Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gen- 
tleman, was visiting at the Littletail rabbit bur- 
row one day. “ There they are. Uncle Wiggily, 
all nicely wrapped up for you to carry.” 

“What’s nicely wrapped up?” asked the 
bunny uncle. “ And what do you want me to 
carry? ” And he looked over the tops of his 
spectacles at the muskrat lady, sort of surprised 
and wondering. 

“ I want you to carry the jam tarts, and they 
are all nicely wrapped up,” went on Nurse Jane. 
“ Don’t you remember, I said I was going to 
make some for you to take over to Mrs. Wibble- 
wobble, the duck lady? ” 

“Oh, of course!” cried Uncle Wiggily. 
“ The jam tarts are for Lulu, Alice and Jimmie 
Wibblewobble, the duck children. I remember 
now. I’ll take them right over.” 

90 


Uncle Wiggily and Simple Simon 91 


They are all nicely wrapped up in a clean 
napkin,” went on the muskrat lady, so be care- 
ful not to squash them and squeeze out the jam, 
as they are very fresh.” 

I’ll be careful,” promised the old rabbit gen- 
tleman, as he put on his fur coat and took down 
off the parlor mantle his red, white and blue 
striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, made of 
a corn-stalk. 

“ Oh, wait a minute. Uncle Wiggily! Wait 
a minute!” cried Mrs. Littletail, the bunny 
mother of Sammie and Susie, the rabbit chil- 
dren, as Mr. Longears started out. “ Where are 
you going? ” 

‘‘ Over to Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady’s 
house, with some jam tarts for Lulu, Alice and 
Jimmie,” answered Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Then would you mind carrying, also, this 
little rubber plant over to her? ” asked Mrs. Lit- 
tletail. ‘‘ I told Mrs. Wibblewobble I would 
send one to her the first chance I had.” 

“ Right gladly will I take it,” said Uncle Wig- 
gily. So Mrs. Littletail, the rabbit lady, wrapped 
the pot of the little rubber plant, with its thick, 
shiny green leaves, in a piece of paper, and Uncle 
Wiggily, tucking it under one paw, while with 
the other he leaned on his crutch, started off 


92 Uncle Wiggily and Simple Simon 


over the fields and through the woods, with the 
jam tarts in his pocket. Over toward the home 
of the Wibblewobble duck family he hopped. 

Mr. Longears, the nice old rabbit gentleman, 
had not gone very far before, all at once, from 
behind a snow-covered stump, he heard a voice 
saying: 

Oh, dear ! I know Fll never find him! I’ve 
looked all over and I can’t see him anywhere. 
Oh, dear 1 Oh, dear ! What shall I do? ” 

“ My ! That sounds like some one in trouble,” 
Uncle Wiggily said to himself. “ I wonder if 
that is any of my little animal friends? I must 
look.” 

So the rabbit gentleman peeked over the top 
of the stump, and there he saw a queer-looking 
boy, with a funny smile on his face, which was 
as round and shiny as the bottom of a new dish 
pan. And the boy looked so kind that Uncle 
Wiggily knew he would not hurt even a lolly- 
pop, much less a rabbit gentleman. 

'' Oh, hello 1 ” cried the boy, as soon as he saw 
Uncle Wiggily. “ Who are you? ” 

“ I am Mr. Longears,” replied the bunny 
uncle. “ And who are you?” 

Why, I’m Simple Simon,” was the answer. 
“ I’m in the Mother Goose book, you know.” 


Uncle Wiggily and Simple Simon 93 


“ Oh, yes, I remember,” said Uncle Wiggily. 
“ But you seem to be out of the book, just now.” 

“ I am,” said Simple Simon. “ The page with 
my picture on it fell out of the book, and so I ran 
away. But I can’t find him anywhere and I 
don’t know what to do.” 

“ Who is it you can’t find? ” asked the rabbit. 

“ The pie-man,” answered the funny, round- 
faced boy. “ Don’t you remember, it says in 
the book, ‘ Simple Simon met a pie-man going 
to the fair? ’ ” 

“ Oh, yes, I remember,” Uncle Wiggily an- 
swered. “ What’s next? ” 

“ Well, I can’t find him anywhere,” said 
Simple Simon. “ I guess the pie-man didn’t fall 
out of the book when I did.” 

“ That’s too bad,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, 
kindly. 

“ It is,” said Simple Simon. ‘‘ For you know 
he ought to ask me for my penny, when I want 
to taste of his pies, and indeed, I haven’t any 
penny — not any, and I’m so hungry for a piece 
of pie ! ” And Simple Simon began to cry. 

“ Oh, don’t cry,” said Uncle Wiggily. See, 
in my pocket I have some jam tarts. They are 
for Lulu, Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the 
ducks, but there are enough to let you have one.” 


94 Uncle Wiggily and Simple Simon 


Why, you are a regular pie-man yourself; 
aren’t you? ” laughed Simple Simon, as he ate 
one of Nurse Jane’s nice jam tarts. 

“ Well, you might call me that,” said the 
bunny uncle. “Though I s’pose a tart-man 
would be nearer right.” 

“ But there’s something else,” went on Simple 
Simon. “ You know in the Mother Goose book 
I have to go for water, in my mother’s sieve. But 
soon it all ran through.” And then, cried 
Simple Simon, “ Oh, dear, what shall I do? ” 
And he held out a sieve, just like a coffee 
strainer, full of little holes. “ How can I ever 
get water in that? ” he asked. “ I’ve tried and 
tried, but I can’t. No one can! It all runs 
through! ” 

Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute. Then 
he cried : 

“ I have it ! I’ll pull some leaves off the rub- 
ber plant I am taking to Mrs. Wibblewobble. 
We’ll put the leaves in the bottom of the sieve, 
and, being of rubber, water can’t get through 
them. Then the sieve will hold water, or milk 
either, and you can bring it to your mother.” 

“ Oh, fine ! ” cried Simple Simon, licking the 
sticky squeegee jam off his fingers. So Uncle 
Wiggily put some rubber plant leaves in the 


Uncle Wiggily and Simple Simon 95 


bottom of the sieve, and Simple Simon, filling it 
full of water, carried it home to his mother, and 
not a drop ran through, which, of course, wasn’t 
at all like the story in the book. 

“ But that isn’t my fault,” said Uncle Wig- 
gily, as he took the rest of the jam tarts to the 
Wibblewobble children. I just had to help 
Simple Simon.” Which was very kind of Uncle 
Wiggily, I think ; don’t you ? It didn’t matter if, 
just once, something happened that wasn’t in the 
book. 

And Mrs. Wibblewobble didn’t at all mind 
some of the leaves being off her rubber plant. 
So you see we should always be kind when we 
can; and if the canary bird doesn’t go to sleep 
in the bowl with the goldfish, and forget to 
whistle like an alarm clock in the morning. I’ll 
tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the 
crump le-horn cow. 


CHAPTER XIV 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CRUMPLE-HORN COW 

“Where are you going, Uncle Wiggily? ’’ 
asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat 
lady housekeeper, as she saw the rabbit gentle- 
man starting out from his hollow-stump bunga- 
low one day. He was back again from his visit 
to Sammie and Susie Littletail. 

“ Oh, I’m just going for a walk,” answered 
Mr. Longears. “ I have not had an exciting ad- 
venture since I carried the valentines for Jack 
and Jill, before they tumbled down hill, and 
perhaps to-day I may find something else to 
make me lively, and happy and skippy like.” 

“ Too much hopping and skipping is not 
good for you,” the muskrat lady said. 

“ Yes, I think it is, if you will excuse me for 
saying so,” spoke Uncle Wiggily politely. “ It 
keeps my rheumatism from getting too pain- 
ful.” 

Then, taking his red, white and blue striped 

96 


Uncle Wiggily and the Cow 


97 


rheumatism crutch from inside the talking ma- 
chine horn, Uncle Wiggily started off. 

Over the fields and through the woods went 
the rabbit gentleman, until, pretty soon, as he 
was walking along, wondering what would hap- 
pen to him that day, he heard a voice saying: 

‘‘ Moo ! Moo ! Moo-o-o-o-o ! ” 

“ Ah ! That sounds rather sad and unhappy 
like,’’ spoke the rabbit gentleman to himself. 
“ I wonder if it can be any one in trouble? ” 

So he peeked through the bushes and there he 
saw a nice cow, who was standing with one foot 
in the hollow of a big stump. 

‘‘ Moo ! Moo ! ” cried the cow. “ Oh, dear, 
will no one help me? ” 

“ Why, of course. I’ll help you,” kindly said 
Uncle Wiggily. “ What is the matter, and who 
are you? ” 

'' Why, I am the Mother Goose cow with the 
crumpled horn,” was the answer, “ and my foot 
is caught so tightly in the hole of this stump that 
I cannot get it out.” 

“ Why, I’ll help you, Mrs. Crumpled-horn 
Cow,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. Then, with 
his rheumatism crutch, the rabbit gentleman 
pushed loose the cow’s hoof from where it was 
caught in the stump, and she was all right again. 


98 Uncle Wiggily and the Cow 


‘‘ Oh, thank you so much, Uncle Wiggily,” 
spoke the crumpled-horn cow. “ If ever I can 
do you a favor I will.” 

‘‘ Thank you,” said the rabbit gentleman, po- 
litely. “ Fm sure you will. But how did you 
happen to get your hoof caught in that stump? ” 

“ Oh, I was standing on it, trying to see if I 
could jump over the moon,” was the answer. 

“ Jump over the moon! ” cried the rabbit gen- 
tleman. “You surprise me! Why in the 
world ” 

“ It’s this way, you see,” spoke the crumpled- 
horn lady cow. “ In the Mother Goose book it 
says : ‘ Hi-diddle-diddle, the cat’s in the fiddle, 
the cow jumped over the moon.’ Well, if one 
cow did that, I don’t see why another one can’t. 
I got up on the stump, to try and jump over the 
moon, but my foot slipped and I was caught fast. 

“ I suppose I should not have tried it, for I 
am the cow with the crumpled horn. You have 
heard of me, I dare say. I’m the cow with the 
crumpled horn, that little Boy Blue drove out 
of the corn. I tossed the dog that worried that 
cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that lay 
in the house that Jack built.” 

“ Oh, I remember you now,” said Uncle Wig- 

giiy- 


Uncle Wiggily and the Cow 


99 


And this is my crumpled horn,” went on the 
cow, and she showed the rabbit gentleman how 
one of her horns was all crumpled and crooked 
and twisted, just like a corkscrew that is used 
to pull hard corks out of bottles. 

“ Well, thank you again for pulling out my 
foot,” said the cow, as she turned away. “ Now 
I must go toss that dog once more, for he’s al- 
ways worrying the cat.” 

So the cow went away, and Uncle Wiggily 
hopped on through the woods and over the 
fields. He had had an adventure, you see, help- 
ing the cow, and later on he had another one, 
for he met Jimmie Wibblewobble, the boy duck, 
who had lost his penny going to the store for a 
cornmeal-flavored lollypop. Uncle Wiggily 
found the penny in the snow, and Jimmie was 
happy once more. 

The next day when Uncle Wiggily awakened 
in his hollow-stump bungalow, and tried to get 
out of bed, he was so lame and stiff that he could 
hardly move. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” cried the rabbit gentleman. 
“ Ouch ! Oh, what a pain I ” 

“ What is it? ” asked Nurse Jane. “ What’s 
the matter? ” 

“ My rheumatism,” answered Uncle Wig- 


100 Uncle Wiggily and the Cow 


gily. “ Please send to Dr. Possum and get some 
medicine. Ouch ! Oh, my ! ’’ 

“ I’ll go for the medicine myself,” Nurse Jane 
said, and, tying her tail up in a double bow-knot, 
so she would not step on it, and trip, as she hur- 
ried along, over to Dr. Possum’s she went. 

The doctor was just starting out to go to see 
Nannie Wagtail, the little goat girl, who had 
the hornache, but before going there Dr. Pos- 
sum ran back into his office, got a big bottle of 
medicine, which he gave to Nurse Jane, say- 
ing: 

“ When you get back to the hollow-stump 
bungalow pull out the cork and rub some on 
Uncle Wiggily’s pain.” 

Rub the cork on? ” asked Nurse Jane, sort 
of surprised like. 

No, rub on some of the medicine from the 
bottle,” answered Dr. Possum, laughing as he 
hurried off. 

Uncle Wiggily had a bad pain when Nurse 
Jane got back. 

“ I’ll soon fix you,” said the muskrat lady. 
“ Wait until I get the cork out of this bottle.” 
But that was more easily said than done. Nurse 
Jane tried with all her might to pull out the cork 
with her paws and even with her teeth. Then 


Uncle Wiggily and the Cow lOl 


she used a hair pin, but it only bent and twisted 
itself all up in a knot. 

“Oh, hurry with the medicine!^* begged 
Uncle Wiggily. “ Hurry, please ! 

“ I can't get the cork out," said Nurse Jane. 
“ The cork is stuck in the bottle." 

“ Let me try," spoke the bunny uncle. But 
he could not get the cork out, either, and his pain 
was getting worse all the while. 

Just then came a knock on the bungalow 
door, and a voice said : 

“ I am the cow with the crumpled horn. I 
just met Dr. Possum, and he told me Uncle Wig- 
gily had the rheumatism. Is there anything I 
can do for him? I’d like to do him a favor as 
he did me one." 

“ Yes, you can help me," said the rabbit gen- 
tleman. “ Can you pull a tight cork out of a 
bottle? " 

“Indeed I can!" mooed the cow. “Just 
watch me I " She put her crooked, crumpled 
horn, which was just like a corkscrew, in the 
cork, and, with one twist, out it came from the 
bottle as easily as anything. Then Nurse Jane 
could rub some medicine on Uncle Wiggily’s 
rheumatism, which soon felt much better. 

So you see Mother Goose’s crumpled-horn 


102 Uncle Wiggily and the Cow 


cow can do other things besides tossing cat- 
worrying dogs. And if the fried egg doesn’t go 
to sleep in the dish pan, so the knives and forks 
can’t play tag there, I’ll tell you next of Uncle 
Wiggily and Old Mother Hubbard. 


CHAPTER XV 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND OLD MOTHER HUBBARD 

“ Uncle Wiggily, have you anything special 
to do this morning? '' asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy 
Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper for the 
rabbit gentleman, as she saw him get up from 
the breakfast table in his hollow-stump bunga- 
low. 

“ Anything special? Why, no, I guess not,’' 
answered the bunny uncle. “ I was going out 
for a walk, and perhaps I may meet with an ad- 
venture on the way, or I may help some friends 
of Mother Goose, as I sometimes do.” 

“ You are always being kind to some one,” 
said Nurse Jane, “ and that is what I want you 
to do now. I have just made an orange cake, 
and ” 

“ An orange cake? ” cried Uncle Wiggily, 
his pink nose twinkling. “ How nice I Where 
did you get the oranges? ” 

“ Up on the Orange Mountains, to be sure,” 
answered the muskrat lady, with a laugh. “ I 
have made two orange cakes, to tell the exact 

103 


104 Uncle Wiggily and Mother Hubbard 


truth, which I always do. There is one for us 
and I wanted to send one to Dr. Possum, who 
was so good to cure you of the rheumatism, 
when the cow with the crumpled horn pulled the 
hard cork out of the medicine bottle for us.’' 

“ Send an orange cake to Dr. Possum? The 
very thing! Oh, fine! ” cried the bunny uncle. 
“ I’ll take it right over to him. Put it in a bas- 
ket, so it will not take cold. Nurse Jane.” 

The muskrat lady wrapped the orange cake 
in a clean napkin, and then put it in the basket 
for Uncle Wiggily to carry to Dr. Possum. 

Off started the old rabbit gentleman, over the 
woods and through the fields — oh, excuse me 
just a minute. He did not go over the woods 
this time. He only did that when he had his 
airship, which he was not using to-day, for fear 
of spilling the oranges out of the cake. So he 
went over the fields and through the woods to 
Dr. Possum’s office. 

“ Well, I wonder if I will have any adventure 
to-day? ” thought the old rabbit gentleman, as 
he hopped along. ‘‘ I hope I do, for ” 

And then he suddenly stopped thinking and 
listened, for he heard a dog barking, and a 
voice was sadly saying : 

“ Oh, dear ! It’s too bad, I know it is, but I 


Uncle Wiggily and Mother Hubbard 105 


can’t help it. It’s that way in the book, so you’ll 
have to go hungry.” 

Then the dog barked again and Uncle Wig- 
gily said: 

More trouble for some one. I hope it isn’t 
the bad dog who used to bother me. I wonder 
if I can help any one? ” 

He looked around, and, nearby, he saw a 
little wooden house on the top of a hill. The 
barking and talking was coming from that 
house. 

“ I’ll go up and see what is the matter? ” said 
the rabbit gentleman. “ Perhaps I can help.’’ 

He looked through a window of the house 
before going in, and he saw a lady, somewhat 
like Mother Goose, wearing a tall, peaked hat, 
like an ice cream cone turned upside down. 
And with her was a big dog, who was looking 
in an open cupboard and barking. And the 
lady was singing : 

'' Old Mother Hubbard 
Went to the cupboard 
To get her poor dog a bone. 

But, when she got there. 

The cupboard was bare. 

And so the poor dog had none.” 


io6 Uncle Wiggily and Mother Hubbard 


‘‘ And isn’t there anything else in the house 
to eat, except a bone, Mother Hubbard? ” the 
dog asked. “ I’m so hungry? ” 

“ There isn’t. I’m sorry to say,” she answered. 

But I’ll go to the baker’s to get you some 
bread ” 

“ And when you come back you will think I 
am dead,” said the dog, quickly. ‘‘ I’ll look so, 
anyhow,” he went on, “ for I am so hungry. 
Isn’t there any way of getting me anything to 
eat without going to the baker’s? I don’t care 
much for bread, anyhow.” 

“ How would you like a piece of orange 
cake? ” asked Uncle Wiggily, all of a sudden, 
as he walked in Mother Hubbard’s house. “ Ex- 
cuse me,” said the bunny uncle, “ but I could 
not help hearing what your dog said. I know 
how hard it is to be hungry, and I have an 
orange cake in my basket. It is for Dr. Possum, 
but I am sure he would be glad to let your dog 
have some.” 

“ That is very kind of you,” said Mother 
Hubbard. 

“ And I certainly would like orange cake,” 
spoke the dog, making a bow and wagging his 
nose — I mean his tail. 

‘‘ Then you shall have it,” said Uncle Wig- 


Uncle Wiggily and Mother Hubbard 107 


gily, opening the basket. He set the orange 
cake on the table, and the dog began to eat it, 
and Mother Hubbard also ate some, for she was 
hungry, too, and, what do you think? Before 
Uncle Wiggily, or any one else knew it, the 
orange cake was all gone — eaten up — and there 
was none for Dr. Possum. 

“ Oh, see what we have done ! ” cried Mother 
Hubbard, sadly. ‘‘We have eaten all your 
cake. Uncle Wiggily. Pm sure we did not mean 
to, but with a hungry dog '' 

“ Pray do not mention it,'’ said the rabbit gen- 
tleman, politely. “ I know just how it is. I have 
another orange cake of my own at home. Fll 
go get that for Dr. Possum. He won’t mind 
which one he has.” 

“ No. I can’t let you do that,” spoke Mother 
Hubbard. “ You were too kind to be put to all 
that trouble. Next door to me lives Paddy 
Kake, the baker-man. I’ll have him bake you 
a cake as fast as he can, and you can take that 
to Dr. Possum. How will that do? ” 

“Why, that will be just fine!” said Uncle 
Wiggily, twinkling his pink nose at the dog, who 
was licking up the last of the cake crumbs with 
his red tongue. 

So Mother Hubbard went next door, where 


io8 Uncle Wiggily and Mother Hubbard 


lived Paddy Kake, the baker. And she said to 
him: 

‘‘ Paddy Kake, Paddy Kake, baker-man. 

Bake me a cake as fast as you can. 

Into it please put a raisin and plum. 

And mark it with D. P. for Dr. Possum.” 

“ I will,” said Paddy Kake. ‘‘ I’ll do it right 
away.” 

And he did, and as soon as the cake was 
baked Uncle Wiggily put it in the basket where 
the orange one had been, and took it to Dr. Pos- 
sum, who was very glad to get it. For the raisin 
and plum cake was as good as the orange one 
Mother Hubbard and her dog had eaten. 

So you see everything came out all right after 
all, and if the cork doesn’t pop out of the ink 
bottle and go to sleep in the middle of the white 
bedspread, like our black cat. I’ll tell you next 
about Uncle Wiggily and Little Miss Muffet. 


CHAPTER XVI 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND MISS MUFFET 

“ Rat-a-tat-tat ! ” came a knock on the door 
of the hollow-stump bungalow, where Uncle 
Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, lived 
with Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat 
lady housekeeper. ‘‘ Rat-a-tat-tat ! ” 

‘‘ Come in,’' called Nurse Jane, who was sit- 
ting by a window, mending a pair of Uncle 
Wiggily’s socks, which had holes in them. 

The door opened, and into the bungalow 
stepped a little girl. Oh, she was such a tiny 
thing that she was not much larger than a doll. 

“ How do you do. Nurse Jane,” said the little 
girl, making a low bow, and shaking her curly 
hair. 

“ Why, I am very well, thank you,” the musk- 
rat lady said. “ How are you? ” 

“ Oh, I’m very well, too. Nurse Jane.” 

Ha! You seem to know me, but I am not 
so sure I know you,” said Uncle Wiggily’s 
housekeeper. “ Are you Little Bo Peep? ” 

109 


no Uncle Wiggily and Miss Muffet 


“ No, Nurse Jane,” answered the little girl, 
with a smile. 

Are you Mistress Mary, quite contrary, how 
does your garden grow? ” Nurse Jane wanted 
to know. 

“ I am not Mistress Mary,” answered the little 
girl. 

“ Then who are you? ” Nurse Jane asked. 

“ I am little Miss Muffet, if you please, and I 
have come to sit on a tuffet, and eat some curds 
and whey. I want to see Uncle Wiggily, too, be- 
fore I go away.” 

All right,” spoke Nurse Jane. “ I’ll get you 
the tuffet and the curds and whey,” and she went 
out to the kitchen. The muskrat lady noticed 
that Miss Muffet said nothing about the spider 
frightening her away. 

“ Perhaps she doesn’t like to talk about it,” 
thought Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, “ though it’s in the 
Mother Goose book. Well, I’ll not say any- 
thing, either.” 

So she got the tuffet for little Miss Muffet; a 
tuffet being a sort of baby footstool. And, in- 
deed, the little girl had to sit on something quite 
small, for her legs were very short. 

“ And here are your curds and whey,” went 
on Nurse Jane, bringing in a bowl. Curds and 


Uncle Wiggily and Miss Muflfet lii 


whey are very good to eat. They are made from 
milk, sweetened, and are something like a cus- 
tard in a cup. 

So little Miss Muffet, sat on a tuffet, eating 
her curds and whey, just as she ought to have 
done. 

“ And,” said Nurse Jane to herself, “ I do 
hope no spider will come sit beside her to 
frighten Miss Muffet away, before Uncle Wig- 
gily sees her, for she is a dear little child.” 

Pretty soon some one was heard hopping up 
the front steps of the bungalow, and Nurse Jane 
said: 

“ There is Uncle Wiggily now, I think.” 

“ Oh, I’m glad! ” exclaimed little Miss Muf- 
fet, as she handed the muskrat lady the empty 
bowl of curds and whey. I want to see him 
very specially.” 

In came hopping the nice old rabbit gentle- 
man, and he knew Little Miss Muffet right 
away, and was very glad to see her. 

‘‘ Oh, Uncle Wiggily! ” cried the little girl. 
“ I have been waiting to see you. I want you to 
do me a very special extra favor; will you? ” 

“Why, of course, if I can,” answered the 
bunny uncle, with a polite bow. “ I am always 
glad to do favors.” 


1 12 Uncle Wiggily and Miss Muffet 


“ You can easily do this one/’ said Little Miss 
Muffet. I want you to come ” 

And just then Uncle Wiggily saw a big spider 
crawling over the floor toward the little girl, who 
was still on her tuffet, having finished her curds 
and whey. 

“ And if she sees that spider, sit down beside 
her, it surely will frighten her away,” thought 
Uncle Wiggily, ‘‘ and I will not be able to find 
out what she wants me to do for her. Let me 
see, she hasn’t yet noticed the spider. I wonder 
if I could get her out of the room while I asked 
the spider to kindly not to do any frightening, 
at least for a while? ” 

So Uncle Wiggily, who was quite worried, 
sort of waved his paw sideways at the spider, and 
twinkled his pink nose and said “ Ahem ! ” 
which meant that the spider was to keep on 
crawling, and not go near Miss Muffet. Uncle 
Wiggily himself was not afraid of spiders. 

“ Yes, Uncle Wiggily,” went on little Miss 
Muffet, who had not yet seen the spider. I 

want you to come to ’’and then she saw the 

rabbit gentleman making funny noses behind 
her back, and waving his paw at something, and 
Miss Muffet cried: 


Uncle Wiggily and Miss Muffet 113 


“ Why, what in the world is the matter, Uncle 
Wiggily? Have you hurt yourself? 

‘‘ No, no,” the rabbit gentleman quickly ex- 
claimed. “ It's the spider. She's crawling to- 
ward you, and I don't want her to sit down be- 
side you, and frighten you away.” 

Little Miss Muffet laughed a jolly laugh. 
Oh, Uncle Wiggily! ” she cried. ‘‘ I'm not 
at all afraid of spiders! I'd let a dozen of them 
sit beside me if they wanted to, for I know they 
will not harm me, if I do not harm them. And 
besides, I knew this spider was coming all the 
while.” 

“ You did? ” cried Nurse Jane, surprised like. 

“ To be sure I did. She is Mrs. Spin-Spider, 
and she has come to measure me for a new cob- 
web silk dress ; haven't you, Mrs. Spin-Spider? ” 
Yes, child, I have,” answered the lady spider. 
‘‘ No one need be afraid of me.” 

“ I'm not,” Uncle Wiggily said, “ only I did 
not want you to frighten Miss Muffet away be- 
fore she had her curds and whey.” 

“ Oh, I had them,” the little girl said. “ Nurse 
Jane gave them to me before you came in. Uncle 
Wiggily. But now let me tell you what I came 
for, and then Mrs. Spin-Spider can measure me 
for a new dress. I came to ask if you would do 


1 14 Uncle Wiggily and Miss Muffet 


me the favor to come to my birthday party next 
week. Will you? 

“ Of course I will! ” cried Uncle Wiggily. 
‘‘ ril be delighted.’’ 

“ Good! ” laughed Little Miss Muffet. Then 
along came Mrs. Spin-Spider, and sat down be- 
side her and did not frighten the little girl away, 
but, instead, measured her for a new dress. 

So from this we may learn that cobwebs are 
good for something else than catching flies, and 
in the next chapter, if the piano doesn’t come up- 
stairs to lie down on the brass bed so the pillow 
has to go down in the coal bin to sleep. I’ll tell 
you about Uncle Wiggily and the first little kit- 
ten. 


CHAPTER XVII 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FIRST KITTEN 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old rab- 
bit gentleman, was asleep in his easy chair by 
the fire which burned brightly on the hearth in 
his hollow-stump bungalow. Mr. Longears 
was dreaming that he had just eaten a piece of 
cherry pie for lunch, and that the cherry pits 
were dropping on the floor with a “ rat-a-tat- 
tat ! ” when he suddenly awakened and heard 
some one knocking on the front door. 

“ Ha! Who is there? Come in! ” cried the 
rabbit gentleman, hardly awake yet. Then he 
happened to think : 

I hope it isn’t the bad fox, or the skillery- 
scalery alligator, whom I have invited in. I 
ought not to have been so quick.” 

But it was none of these unpleasant creatures 
who had knocked on Uncle Wiggily ’s door. It 
was Mrs. Purr, the nice cat lady, and when the 
rabbit gentleman had let her in she looked so sad 
and sorrowful that he said : 

115 


ii6 Uncle Wiggily and the First Kitten 


'' What is the matter, Mrs. Purr? Has any- 
thing happened? ” 

Indeed there has, Mr. Longears,’’ the cat 
lady answered. “ You know my three little kit- 
tens, don’t you? ” 

Why, yes, I know them,” replied the bunny 
uncle. “ They are Fuzzo, Muzzo and Wuzzo. 
I hope they are not ill? ” 

No, they are not ill,” said the cat lady, mew- 
ing sadly, ‘‘ but they have run away, and I came 
to see if you would help me get them back.” 

Run away I Your dear little kittens I ” cried 
Uncle Wiggily. ‘‘You don’t mean it! How 
did it happen? ” 

“ Well, you know my little kittens had each a 
new pair of mittens,” said Mrs. Purr. 

“ Yes, I read about that in the Mother Goose 
book,” said the rabbit gentleman. “ It must be 
nice to have new mittens.” 

“ My little kittens thought so,” went on Mrs. 
Purr. “ Their grandmother. Pussy Cat Mole, 
knitted them.” 

“ I have met Pussy Cat Mole,” said Uncle 
Wiggily. “ After she jumped over a coal, and 
in her best petticoat burned a great hole, I helped 
her mend it so she could go to the party.” 

“ I heard about that ; it was very good of you,” 


Uncle Wiggily and the First Kitten 117 


mewed Mrs. Purr. “ But about my little kittens, 
when they got their mittens, what do you think 
they did? 

“ Why, I suppose they went out and played in 
the snow,’’ Uncle Wiggily said. “ I know that 
is what I would have done, when I was a little 
rabbit, if I had had a new pair of mittens.” 

“ I only wish they had done that,” Mrs. Purr 
said. ‘‘ But, instead, they went and ate some 
cherry pie. The red pie-juice got all over their 
new mittens, and when they saw it they became 
afraid I would scold them, and they ran away. 
I was not home when they ate the pie and soiled 
their mittens, but the cat lady who lives next door 
told me. 

“ Now I want to know if you will try to find 
my three little kittens for me; Fuzzo, Wuzzo 
and Muzzo? I want them to come home so 
badly! ” 

“ I’ll go look for them,” promised the old rab- 
bit gentleman. So taking his red, white and blue 
rheumatism crutch, off he started over the fields 
and through the woods. Mrs. Purr went back 
home to get supper, in case her kittens, with 
their pie-soiled mittens, should come back by 
themselves before Uncle Wiggily found them. 

On and on went the old rabbit gentleman. 


Ii8 Uncle Wiggily and the First Kitten 


He looked on all sides and through the middle 
for any signs of the lost kittens, but he saw none 
for quite a while. Then, all at once, he heard a 
mewing sound over in the bushes, and he said: 

“ Ha! There is the first little kitten! ’’ And 
there, surely enough she was — Fuzzo! 

‘‘ Oh, dear ! ” Fuzzo was saying, “ I don’t be- 
lieve ril ever get them clean! ” 

“ What’s the matter now? ” asked the rabbit 
gentleman, though he knew quite well what it 
was, and only pretended he did not. “ Who are 
you and what is the matter? ” he asked. 

“ Oh, Fm in such trouble,” said the first little 
kitten. “ My sisters and I ate some pie in our 
new mittens. We soiled them badly with the 
red pie-juice. Weren’t we naughty kittens? ” 

“ Well, perhaps just a little bit naughty,” 
Uncle Wiggily said. “ But you should not have 
run away from your mamma. She feels very 
badly. Where are Muzzo and Wuzzo? ” 

‘‘ I don’t know ! ” answered Fuzzo. “ They 
ran one way and I ran another. Fm trying to 
get the pie-juice out of my mittens, but I can’t 
seem to do it.” 

“ How did you try? ” Uncle Wiggily wanted 
to know. 

“ I am rubbing my mittens up and down on 


Uncle Wiggily and the First Kitten 119 


the rough bark of trees and on stones,” answered 
Fuzzo. “ I thought that would take the pie 
stains out, but it doesn't.” 

“Of course not!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. 
“ Now you come with me. I am going to take 
you home. Your mother sent me to look for 
you.” 

“ Oh, but Fm afraid to go home,” mewed 
Fuzzo. “ My mother will scold me for soiling 
my nice, new mittens. It says so in the book.” 

“No, she won't!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. 
“ You just leave it to me. But first you come 
to my hollow-stump bungalow.” 

So Fuzzo, the first little kitten, put one paw 
in Uncle Wiggily's, and carrying her mittens 
in the other, along they went together. 

“ Where are you. Nurse Jane Fuzzy 
Wuzzy? ” called the rabbit gentleman, when 
they reached his hollow-stump bungalow. “ I 
want you to make some nice, hot, soapy suds and 
water, and wash this first little kitten's mittens. 
Then they will be clean, and she can take them 
home with her.” 

So the muskrat lady made some nice, hot, soap- 
bubbily suds and in them she washed the kitten's 
mittens. Then, when they were dry. Uncle Wig- 


120 Uncle Wiggily and the First Kitten 


gily took the mittens, and also Fuzzo to Mrs. 
Purr’s house. 

“ Oh, how glad I am to have you back I ” cried 
the cat mother. “ I wouldn’t have scolded you, 
Fuzzo, for soiling your mittens. You must not 
be afraid any more.” 

“ I won’t,” promised the first little kitten, 
showing her nice, clean mittens. 

And then Uncle Wiggily said he would go 
find the other two lost baby cats. And so, if the 
milkman doesn’t put goldfish in the ink bottle, 
to make the puppy dog laugh when he goes to 
bed, ril tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and 
the second kittie. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SECOND KITTEN 

‘‘ Well, where are you going now, Uncle 
Wiggily? '' asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, 
the muskrat lady housekeeper, of the rabbit gen- 
tleman, one day as she saw him starting out of 
his hollow-stump bungalow, after he had found 
the first of the little kittens who had soiled their 
mittens. 

“ I am going to look for the second little lost 
kitten,” replied the bunny uncle, ‘‘though where 
she may be I don't know. Her name is Muzzo.” 

“ Why, her name is almost like mine, isn't it? '' 
asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy. 

“ A little like it,'' said Uncle Wiggily. “ Poor 
little Muzzo ! She and the other two kittens ran 
off after they had soiled their mittens, eating 
cherry pie when their mother, Mrs. Purr, was 
not at home.'' 

“ It is very good of you to go looking for 
them,'' said Nurse Jane. 


122 Uncle Wiggily and the Second Kitten 


“ Oh, I just love to do things like that,” spoke 
the rabbit gentleman. Well, good-by. I’ll see 
if I can’t find the second kitten now.” 

Away started the rabbit gentleman, over the 
fields and through the woods, looking on all 
sides for the second lost kitten, whose name was 
Muzzo. 

“ Where are you, kittie? ” called Uncle Wig- 
gily. “ Where are you, Muzzo? Come to me I 
Never mind if your mittens are soiled by cherry- 
pie-juice. I’ll find a way to clean them.” 

But no Muzzo answered. Uncle Wiggily 
looked everywhere, under bushes and in the tree 
tops; for sometimes kitty cats climb trees, you 
know; but no Muzzo could he find. Then 
Uncle Wiggily walked a little farther, and he 
saw Billie Wagtail, the goat boy, butting his 
head in a snow-bank. 

“ What are you doing, Billie? ” asked the rab- 
bit gentleman. 

“ Oh, just having some fun,” answered Billie, 
standing up on his hind legs. 

“ You haven’t seen a little lost kitten, with 
cherry-pie-juice on her new mittens, have you? ” 
asked the rabbit gentleman. 

“ No, I am sorry to say I have not,” said Billie, 
politely. “ Did you lose one? ” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Second Kitten 123 


“ No, she lost herself,” said Uncle Wiggily, 
and he told about Muzzo. 

‘‘ ril help you look for her,” offered the goat 
boy, so he and Uncle Wiggily started off to- 
gether to try to find poor little lost Muzzo, and 
bring her home to her mother, Mrs. Purr. 

Pretty soon, as the rabbit gentleman and the 
goat boy were walking along they heard a little 
mewing cry behind a pile of snow, and Uncle 
Wiggily said: 

That sounds like Muzzo now.” 

“ Perhaps it is. Let's look,” said Billie Wag- 
tail. 

He and the bunny uncle looked over the pile 
of snow, and there, surely enough, they saw a 
little white pussy cat sitting on a stone, looking 
at her mittens, which were all covered with red 
pie-juice. 

‘‘ Oh, dear ! ” the little pussy was saying. 
“ I don't know how to get them clean! What 
shall I do? I can't go home with my mittens all 
soiled, or my mamma will whip me.” 

Of course, Mrs. Purr, the cat lady, would not 
do anything like that, but Muzzo thought she 
would. 

“ What are you trying to do to clean your 
mittens, Muzzo? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 


124 Uncle Wiggily and the Second Kitten 


Oh, how you surprised me! exclaimed the 
second little lost kitten. “ I did not know you 
were here.’’ 

“Billie Wagtail and I came to look for you,” 
said Uncle Wiggily. “ But what about your 
mittens? ” 

“ Oh, I have been dipping them in snow, try- 
ing to clean them,” said Muzzo. “ Only the 
pie-juice will not come out.” 

“ Of course not,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, with 
a laugh. “ It needs hot soap-suds and water to 
clean them. You come home to my bungalow 
and we will get some.” 

“ Oh, I am so cold and tired I can’t go another 
step,” said the second little kitten, who had run 
away from home after she soiled her mittens. 
“ I just can’t.” 

“ Well, then, I don’t know how you are going 
to get your mittens washed, out here in the cold 
and snow,” said the rabbit gentleman. 

“ Hal I know a way! ” said Billie Wagtail, 
the goat boy. 

“ How? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 

“ I’ll get an empty tomato can,” spoke Billie. 
“ I know where there is one, for I was eating 
the paper off it, to get the paste, just before you 
came along.” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Second Kitten 125 


Goats like to eat paper off tomato cans, you 
know, because the paper is stuck on with sweet 
paste, and that is as good to goat children as 
candy is to you. 

‘‘ ril go get the tomato can,'' said Billie, “ and 
you can make a fire. Uncle Wiggily." 

“ And then what? " asked the rabbit gentle- 
man. 

Then we will melt some snow, and make 
some hot water," went on Billie. “ I have a cake 
of soap in my pocket, that I just bought at the 
store for my mother. 

“ With the hot water in the can, and the soap, 
we can make a suds, and wash Muzzo's mittens 
out here as well as at your bungalow." 

“ So we can, Billie ! " cried the bunny uncle. 
‘‘ You go get the empty tomato tin and I’ll make 
the fire. You needn't try to wash your soiled 
mittens in the snow any more, Muzzo," he said 
to the second lost kittie. “We will do it for you, 
in soapy water, which is better." 

Soon Uncle Wiggily made a fire. Back came 
Billie Wagtail with the tomato can. Some snow 
was put in it, and it was set over the blaze. Soon 
the snow melted into water, and then when the 
water was hot Uncle Wiggily made a soapy suds 
as Nurse Jane had done. 


126 Uncle Wiggily and the Second Kitten 


“ Now I can wash my mittens ! cried Muzzo, 
and she did. And when they were nice and 
clean she went home with them, and oh! how 
glad her mother was to see her I 

“ Never run away again, Muzzo,’’ said the 
cat lady. 

“ I won’t,” promised the kitten. “ But where 
is Wuzzo? ” 

“ She is still lost,” said Mrs. Purr. 

“ But I will go find her, too,” said Uncle 
Wiggily. 

And if the apple pie doesn’t go out snowball- 
ing with the piece of cheese, and forget to come 
back to dinner. I’ll tell you next about Uncle 
Wiggily and the third little kitten. 


CHAPTER XIX 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE THIRD KITTEN 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old 
gentleman rabbit, came walking slowly up the 
front path that led to his hollow-stump bun- 
galow. He was limping a little on his red, white 
and blue striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch 
that Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat 
lady housekeeper, had gnawed for him out of a 
corn-stalk. 

‘‘ Well, Fm glad to be home again,” said the 
rabbit uncle, sitting down on the front porch to 
rest a minute. And just then the door in the 
hollow stump opened, and Nurse Jane, looking 
out, said: 

“ Oh, here he is now, Mrs. Purr.” 

With that a cat lady came to the door and she 
said: 

‘‘ Oh, Uncle Wiggily! I thought you never 
would come back. Did you find her? ” 

‘‘ Find who? ” asked the rabbit gentleman. 

I was not looking for any one. I have just 
127 


128 Uncle Wiggily and the Third Kitten 


been down to Lincoln Park to see some squirrels 
who live in a hollow tree. They are second 
cousins to Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the 
squirrels who live in our woods. I had a nice 
visit with them.’' 

Then you didn’t find Wuzzo, my third little 
lost kitten, did you? ” asked Mrs. Purr, the cat 
mother. 

‘‘ What ! Is Wuzzo still lost? ” asked the 
bunny uncle, in great surprise. I thought she 
had come home.” 

No, she hasn’t,” said Mrs. Purr. ‘‘ You 
know you found my other kittens, Fuzzo 
and Muzzo, for me, but Wuzzo, the third little 
kitten, is still lost. She has been away all night, 
and I came over here the first thing this morning 
to see if you would not kindly go look for her. 
But you had already left and I have been waiting 
here ever since for you to come back.” 

“ Yes, I stayed longer with the park squirrels 
than I meant to,” said Uncle Wiggily. ‘‘ But 
now I am back I will start off and try to find 
Wuzzo. It’s too bad your three little kittens ran 
away.” 

They had, you know, as I told you in the two 
stories before this one. The three little kittens 
ate cherry pie with their new mittens on. And 


Uncle Wiggily and the Third Kitten 129 


they soiled their mittens. Then they were so 
afraid their mother, Mrs. Purr, would scold 
them that they all ran away. 

But Mrs. Purr was a kind cat, and would not 
have scolded at all. And when she found her 
little kittens were gone she asked Uncle Wig- 
gily to find them. 

“ And you did find the first two, Fuzzo and 
Muzzo,” said the cat lady. “ So I am sure you 
can find the third one, Wuzzo.” 

'' I hope I can,” Uncle Wiggily said. “ I re- 
member now I started off to find her, but my 
rheumatism hurt me so I had to come back to 
my bungalow. Then I forgot all about Wuzzo. 
But Pm all right now, and I’ll start off.” 

So away over the fields and through the woods 
went Uncle Wiggily, looking for the third little 
lost kitten. When he had found the two others 
he had helped them wash the pie-juice off their 
mittens, so they were nice and clean. And then 
the kittens were not afraid to go home. 

Uncle Wiggily looked all over for the third 
little kitten, under bushes, up in trees (for cats 
climb trees, you know), and even behind big 
rocks Uncle Wiggily looked. But no Wuzzo 
could he find. 

At last, when the rabbit gentleman came to a 


130 Uncle Wiggily and the Third Kitten 


big hollow log that was lying on the ground, he 
sat down on it to rest, and, all of a sudden, he 
heard a voice inside the log speaking. And the 
voice asked: 

‘‘ Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? ” 

“ Fve been to London to see the Queen,” an- 
swered another voice. 

‘‘ Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you do 
there? ” 

I frightened a little mouse, under her chair,” 
came the answer, and this time it was a little 
pussy cat kitten speaking. Uncle Wiggily was 
certain. 

The old rabbit gentleman looked in one end 
of the hollow log, and there surely enough, he 
saw Wuzzo, the third lost kitten. 

And besides Wuzzo, Uncle Wiggily saw 
Neddie Stubtail, the little bear boy, who always 
slept in a hollow log all Winter. But this time 
Neddie was awake, for it was near Spring. 

Wuzzo, Wuzzo! Is that you? What are 
you doing there? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 
“ Don't you know your poor mother is look- 
ing all over for you, and that she has sent me to 
find you? Why don't you come home? ” 

‘‘ I — I'm afraid to,” said Wuzzo, crawling 


Uncle Wiggily and the Third Kitten 131 


out of the hollow log, and Neddie, the boy bear 
also crawled out, saying: 

“ Hello, Uncle Wiggily! ” 

“ How do you do, Neddie,” spoke the bunny 
uncle. “ How long has Wuzzo been staying 
with you? ” 

She just ran in my hollow log,” said the little 
bear chap, and her tail, brushing against my 
nose, tickled me so that I sneezed and awakened 
from my Winter sleep.” 

Where have you been all night, since you 
ran away, Wuzzo? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Well,” answered the third little kitten. 
After Fuzzo, Muzzo and I soiled our mittens 
with cherry pie we all ran away.” 

“ Yes, I know that part,” spoke the bunny 
uncle. It was not right to do, but I have found 
the two other lost kitties. I couldn’t find you, 
though. Why was that? ” 

“ Because I met Mother Goose,” said Wuzzo, 
‘‘ and she asked me to go to London to see the 
Queen. She took me through the air on the 
back of her big gander, and we flew as quickly 
as you could have gone in your airship.” 

“You went to London to see the Queen! ” ex- 
claimed Uncle Wiggily, in surprise. “ Well, 
well ! What did you do there? ” 


132 Uncle Wiggily and the Third Kitten 


“ I frightened a little mouse under her chair, 
just as Mother Goose wanted me to do,’’ said 
Wuzzo. “ Then the big gander flew with me to 
these woods and went back to get Mother Goose, 
who stayed to talk with the Queen. So here I 
am, but I don’t know the way home.” 

“ Oh, I’ll take you home all right,” said Uncle 
Wiggily. “ But first we must wash your mit- 
tens.” 

“ Oh, I did that for her, in the log,” said Ned- 
die Stubtail, laughing. “ With my red tongue 
I licked off all the sweet cherry-pie-juice, which 
I liked very much. So, now the mittens are 
clean.” 

“ Good ! ” cried the bunny uncle. “ Now we 
will go to your mother, Wuzzo. She will be 
glad to know that you frightened a little mouse 
under the Queen’s chair.” 

So Uncle Wiggily took the third little kitten 
home, and thus they were all found. And if the 
cat on our roof doesn’t jump down the chimney, 
and scare the lemon pie so it turns into an apple 
dumpling, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wig- 
gily and the Jack horse. 


CHAPTER XX 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE JACK HORSE 

‘‘Well, where are you going to-day, Uncle 
Wiggily? asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy, the musk- 
rat lady housekeeper, as she saw the rabbit 
gentleman putting on his tall silk hat, and taking 
his red, white and blue striped rheumatism 
crutch down off the mantel. 

‘‘ I am going over to see Nannie and Billy 
Wagtail, the goat children,’’ answered the bunny 
uncle. “ I have not seen them in a long while.” 

But they’ll be at school,” said Nurse Jane. 

I’ll wait until they come home, then,” said 
Uncle Wiggily. “ And while I’m waiting I’ll 
talk to Uncle Butter, the nice old gentleman 
goat.” 

So off started Uncle Wiggily over the fields 
and through the woods. 

Pretty soon he came to the house where the 
family of Wagtail goats lived. They were given 
that name because they wagged their little short 
tails so very fast, sometimes up and down, and 
again sideways. 


133 


134 Uncle Wiggily and the Jack Horse 


“ Why, how do you do, Uncle Wiggily? 
asked Mrs. Wagtail, as she opened the door for 
the rabbit gentleman. “ Come and sit down.’' 

“ Thank you,” he answered. “ I called to see 
Nannie and Billie. But I suppose they are at 
school.” 

'' Yes, they are studying their lessons.” 

“ Well, ril come in then, and talk to Uncle 
Butter, for I suppose you are busy.” 

“ Yes, I am, but not too busy to talk to you, 
Mr. Longears,” said the goat lady. “ Uncle 
Butter is away, pasting up some circus posters 
on the billboard, and I wish he’d come back, for 
I want him to go to the store for me.” 

“ Couldn’t I go? ” asked Uncle Wiggily, po- 
litely. “ I have nothing special to do, and I often 
go to the store for Nurse Jane. I’d like to go 
for you.” 

“ Very well, you may,” said Mrs. Wagtail. 
“ I want for supper some papers off a tomato 
can, and a few more off a can of corn, and here 
is a basket to put them in. And you might bring 
a bit of brown paper, so I can make soup of it.” 

“ I will,” said Uncle Wiggily, starting off 
with the basket on his paw. Goats, you know, 
like the papers that come off cans, as the papers 
have sweet paste on them. And they also like 


Uncle Wiggily and the Jack Horse 135 


brown grocery paper itself, for it has straw in 
it, and goats like straw. Of course, goats eat 
other things besides paper, though. 

Uncle Wiggily was going carefully along, 
for there was ice and snow on the ground, and 
it was slippery, and he did not want to fall. Soon 
he was at the paper store, where he bought what 
Mrs. Wagtail wanted. 

And on the way back to the goat lady’s house 
something happened to the old rabbit gentleman. 
As he stepped over a big icicle he put his foot 
down on a slippery snowball some little animal 
chap had left on the path, and, all of a sudden, 
bango! down went Uncle Wiggily, basket of 
paper, rheumatism crutch and all. 

‘‘ Ouch ! ” cried the rabbit gentleman, '' I fear 
something is broken,” for he heard a cracking 
sound as he fell. 

He looked at his paws and legs and felt of 
his big ears. They seemed all right. Then he 
looked at the basket of paper. That was 
crumpled up, but not broken, and the bunny 
uncle’s tall silk hat, while it had a few dents in, 
was not smashed. 

Oh, dear ! It’s my rheumatism crutch,” 
cried Uncle Wiggily. It’s broken in two, 
and how am I ever going to walk without it 


136 Uncle Wiggily and the Jack Horse 


this slippery day I don’t see. Oh, my goodness 
me sakes alive and some bang-bang tooth pow- 
der!” 

Carefully the rabbit gentleman arose, but as 
he had no red, white and blue striped crutch to 
lean on, he nearly fell again. 

‘‘ I guess I’d better stay sitting down,” thought 
Uncle Wiggily. “ Perhaps some one may come 
along, and I can ask them go get Nurse Jane 
to gnaw for me another rheumatism crutch out 
of a corn-stalk. I’ll wait here until help comes.” 

Uncle Wiggily waited quite a while, but no 
one passed by. 

“ It will soon be time for Billie and Nannie 
Wagtail to pass by on their way from school,” 
thought the bunny uncle. “ I could send them 
for another crutch, I suppose.” 

So he waited a little longer, and then, as no one 
came, he tried to walk with his broken crutch. 
But he could not. Then Uncle Wiggily cried: 

“ Help I Help ! Help ! ” but still no one 
came. ‘‘ Oh, dear ! ” said the rabbit gentleman, 

if only Mother Goose would fly past, riding 
on the back of her gander, she might take me 
home.” He looked up, but Mother Goose was 
not sweeping cobwebs out of the sky that day, 
so he did not see her. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Jack Horse 137 


Then, all of a sudden, as the rabbit gentle- 
man sat there, wondering how he was going to 
walk on the slippery ice and snow without his 
crutch to help him, he heard a jolly voice sing- 
ing: 

‘‘ Ride a Jack horse to Banbury Cross, 

To see an old lady jump on a white horse. 
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, 
She shall have music wherever she goes.” 

And with that along through the woods came 
riding a nice, old lady on a rocking-horse. And 
on the side of the rocking-horse was painted in 
red ink the name : 


JACK 

‘‘Why, hello. Uncle Wiggily!” called the 
nice old lady, shaking her toes and making the 
bells jingle a pretty tune. “ What is the matter 
with you? ” she asked. 

“ Oh, I am in such trouble,” replied the bunny 
uncle. “ I fell down on a slippery snowball, and 
broke my crutch. Without it I cannot walk, 
and I want to take these papers to Mrs. Wagtail, 
the goat lady, to eat,” 


138 Uncle Wiggily and the Jack Horse 


“ Ha! If that is all your trouble I can soon 
fix matters ! cried the jolly old lady. Here, 
get up beside me on my Jack horse, and I’ll ride 
you to Mrs. Wagtail’s, and then take you home 
to your hollow-stump bungalow.” 

“Oh, will you? How kind!” said Uncle 
Wiggily. “ Thank you ! But have you the 
time? ” 

“ Lots of time,” laughed the old lady. “ It 
doesn’t really matter when I get to Banbury 
Cross. Come on ! ” 

Uncle Wiggily got up on the back of the 
Jack horse, behind the old lady. She tinkled 
the rings on her fingers and jingled the bells on 
her toes, and so, of course, she’ll have music 
wherever she goes. 

“ Just as the Mother Goose books says,” spoke 
the bunny uncle. “ Oh, I’m glad you came 
along.” 

“ So am I,” said the nice old lady. Then she 
took Uncle Wiggily to the Wagtail house, 
where he left the basket of papers, and next he 
rode on the Jack horse to his bungalow, and, 
after the bunny uncle had thanked the old lady, 
she, herself, rode on to Banbury Cross, to see 
another old lady jump on a white horse. And 
very nicely she did it too, let me tell you.” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Jack Horse 139 


So everything came out all right, and in the 
next chapter, if the apple pie doesn’t turn a 
somersault and crack its crust so the juice runs 
out. I’ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the 
clock-mouse. 


CHAPTER XXI 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CLOCK-MOUSE 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old rab- 
bit gentleman, sat in an easy chair in his hollow- 
stump bungalow. He had just eaten a nice 
lunch, which Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the 
muskrat lady housekeeper, had put on the table 
for him, and he was feeling a bit sleepy. 

“ Are you going out this afternoon? ’’ asked 
Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, as she cleared away the 
dishes. 

"Hum! Ho! Well, I hardly know,’’ Uncle 
Wiggily answered, in a sleepy voice. " I may, 
after I have a little nap.” 

" Your new red, white and blue striped 
rheumatism crutch is ready for you,” went on 
Nurse Jane. " I gnawed it for you out of a fine 
large corn-stalk.” 

Uncle Wiggily had broken his other crutch, 
if you will kindly remember, when he slipped 
as he was coming back from the store, where 
he went for Mrs. Wagtail, the goat lady. And 
140 


Uncle Wiggily and the Clock-Mouse 141 


it was so slippery that the rabbit gentleman 
never would have gotten home, only he rode 
on a Jack horse with the lady, who had rings 
on her fingers and bells on her toes, as I told you 
in the story before this one. 

“ Thank you for making me a new crutch. 
Nurse Jane,” spoke the bunny uncle. “ If I go 
out ril take it.” 

Then he went to sleep in his easy chair, but 
he was suddenly awakened by hearing the 
bungalow clock strike one. Then, as he sat up 
and rubbed his eyes with his paws. Uncle Wig- 
gily heard a thumping noise on the hall floor 
and a little voice squeaked out : 

“Ouch! I’ve hurt my leg! Oh, dear!” 

“My! I wonder what that can be? It 
seemed to come out of my clock,” spoke Mr. 
Longears. 

“ I did come out of your clock,” said some 
one. 

“ You did? Who are you, if you please? ” 
asked the bunny uncle, looking all around. “ I 
can’t see you.” 

“ That’s because I’m so small,” was the an- 
swer. “ But here I am, right by the table. I 
can’t walk as my leg is hurt.” 

Uncle Wiggily looked, and saw a little mouse, 


142 Uncle Wiggily and the Clock-Mouse 


who was holding his left hind leg in his right 
front paw. 

“ Who are you? ’’ asked the bunny uncle. 

I am Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse,’’ 
was the answer. “ And I am a clock-mouse.” 

'‘A clock-mouse!” exclaimed Uncle Wig- 
gily, in surprise. I never heard of such a 
thing.” 

Oh, don’t you remember me? I’m in 
Mother Goose’s book. This is how it goes: 

“ ‘ Hickory Dickory Dock, 

The mouse ran up the clock. 

The clock struck one. 

And down he come. 

Hickory Dickory Dock! ’ ” 

Oh, now I remember you,” said Uncle Wig- 
gily. “ And so you are a clock-mouse.” 

“ Yes, I ran up your clock, and then when the 
clock struck one, down I had to come. But I 
ran down so fast that I tripped over the pendu- 
lum. The clock reached down its hands and 
tried to catch me, but it had no eyes in its face 
to see me, so I slipped, anyhow, and I hurt my 
leg.” 

‘‘ Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” said Uncle Wig- 


Uncle Wiggily and the Clock-Mouse 143 


gily. ‘‘ Perhaps I can fix it for you. Nurse 
Jane, bring me some salve for Hickory Dickory 
Dock, the clock-mouse,’' he called. 

The muskrat lady brought some salve, and, 
with a rag. Uncle Wiggily bound up the leg of 
the clock-mouse so it did not hurt so much. 

‘‘ And I’ll lend you a piece of my old crutch, 
so you can hobble along on it,” said Uncle Wig- 

gily. 

Thank you,” spoke Hickory Dickory Dock, 
the clock-mouse. ‘‘ You have been very kind 
to me, and some day, I hope, I may do you a 
favor. If I can I will.” 

“ Thank you,” Uncle Wiggily said. Then 
Hickory Dickory Dock limped away, but in a 
few days he was better, and he could run up 
more clocks, and run down when they struck 
one. 

It was about a week after this that Uncle Wig- 
gily went walking through the woods on his 
way to see Grandfather Goosey Gander. And 
just before he reached his friend’s house he met 
Mother Goose. 

‘‘ Oh, Uncle Wiggily,” she said, swinging 
her cobweb broom up and down, “ I want to 
thank you for being so kind to Hickory Dickory 
Dock, the clock-mouse.” 


144 Uncle Wiggily and the Clock-Mouse 


“ It was a pleasure to be kind to him/* said 
Uncle Wiggily. “ Is he all better now? ** 

“ Yes, he is all well again,’* replied Mother 
Goose. “ He is coming to run up and down 
your clock again soon.** 

“ 1*11 be glad to see him,** said Uncle Wig- 
gily. Then he went to call on Grandpa Goosey, 
and he told about Hickory Dickory Dock, fall- 
ing down from out the clock. 

On his way back to his hollow-stump bunga- 
low, Uncle Wiggily took a short cut through 
the woods. And, as he was passing along, his 
paw slipped and he became all tangled up in a 
wild grape vine, which was like a lot of ropes, all 
twisted together into hard knots. 

“Oh, dear!** cried Uncle Wiggily. “ Fm 
caught! ** The more he tried to untangle him- 
self the tighter he was held fast, until it seemed 
he would never get out. 

“ Oh ! ** cried the rabbit gentleman. “ This 
is terrible. Will no one come to get me out? 
Help ! Help ! Will some one please help me? ** 
“ Yes, I will help you. Uncle Wiggily,** an- 
swered a kind, little squeaking voice. 

“ Who are you? ** asked the rabbit gentleman, 
moving a piece of the grape vine away from his 
nose, so he could speak plainly. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Clock-Mouse 145 


I am Hickory Dickory Dock, the clock- 
mouse,'' was the answer, “ and with my sharp 
teeth I will gnaw the grape vine in many pieces 
so you will be free." 

‘‘ That will be very kind of you," said Uncle 
Wiggily, who was quite tired out with his strug- 
gles to get loose. 

So Hickory Dickory Dock, with his sharp 
teeth, gnawed the grape vine, and, in a little 
while. Uncle Wiggily was loose and all right 
again. 

‘‘ Thank you," said the bunny uncle to the 
clock-mouse, as he hopped off, and Hickory 
Dickory Dock went with him, for his leg was 
all better now. “ Thank you very much, nice 
little clock-mouse." 

“ You did me a favor," said Hickory Dickory 
Dock, “ and now I have done you one, so we are 
even." And that's a good way to be in this 
world. So, if the ink bottle doesn't turn pale 
when it sees the fountain pen jump in the gold- 
fish bowl and swim I'll tell you next about Uncle 
Wiggily and the late scholar. 


CHAPTER XXII 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LATE SCHOLAR 

‘‘Heigh-ho!’’ cried Uncle Wiggily Long- 
ears, the nice rabbit gentleman, one morning, 
as he hopped from bed and went to the window 
of his hollow-stump bungalow to look out. 
“ Heigh-ho I It will soon be Spring, I hope, for 
I am tired of Winter.” 

Then he went down-stairs, where Nurse Jane 
Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, 
had his breakfast ready on the table. 

Uncle Wiggily ate some cabbage pancakes 
with carrot maple sugar sprinkled over them, 
and then as he wiped his whiskers on his red 
tongue, which he used for a napkin, and as he 
twinkled his pink nose to see if it was all right. 
Nurse Jane said: 

“ Yesterday, Uncle Wiggily, you told me you 
would like me to make some lettuce cakes to- 
day; did you not? ” 

“ I did,” answered Uncle Wiggily, sort of 
slow and solemn like. “ But what is the matter. 
Nurse Jane? I hope you are not going to tell 
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Uncle Wiggily and the Late Scholar 147 


me that you cannot, or will not, make those let- 
tuce cakes/’ 

“ Oh, I’ll make them, all right enough, 
Wiggy,” the muskrat lady answered, only I 
have no lettuce. You will have to go to the store 
for me.” 

“ And right gladly will I go ! ” exclaimed the 
bunny uncle, speaking like some one in an old- 
fashioned story book. “ I’ll get my automobile 
out and go at once.” 

Uncle Wiggily had not used his machine 
often that Winter, as there had been so much 
snow and ice. But now it was getting close to 
Spring and the weather was very nice. There 
was no snow in the woods and fields, though, 
of course, some might fall later. 

“ It will do my auto good to have me ride in 
it,” said the bunny uncle. He blew some hot air 
in the bologna sausage tires, put some talcum 
powder on the steering-wheel so it would not 
catch cold, and then, having tickled the whiz- 
zicum-whazzicum with a goose feather, away 
he started for the lettuce store. 

It did not take him long to get there, and, hav- 
ing bought a nice head of the green stuff, the 
bunny uncle started back again for his hollow- 
stump bungalow. 


148 Uncle Wiggily and the Late Scholar 


Nurse Jane will make some fine lettuce 
cakes, with clover ice cream cones on top,” he 
said to himself, as he hurried along in his auto- 
mobile. 

He had not gone very far, and he was about 
halfway home, when from behind a bush he 
heard the sound of crying. Now, whenever 
Uncle Wiggily heard any one crying he knew 
some one was in trouble, and as he always tried 
to help those in trouble, he did it this time. 
Stopping his automobile, he called: 

“ Who are you, and what is the matter? Per- 
haps I can help you.” 

Out from behind the bush came a boy, a nice 
sort of boy, except that he was crying. 

“ Oh, are you Simple Simon? ” asked Uncle 
Wiggily, “ and are you crying because you can- 
not catch a whale in your mother’s water pail? ” 
No ; I am not Simple Simon,” was the an- 
swer of the boy. 

‘‘ Well, you cannot be Jack Horner, because 
you have no pie with you, and you’re not Little 
Boy Blue, because I see you wear a red necktie,” 
went on the bunny uncle. “ Do you belong to 
Mother Goose at all? ” 

“ Yes,” answered the boy. “ I do. You must 
have heard about me. I am Diller-a-Dollar, a 


Uncle Wiggily and the Late Scholar 149 


ten o’clock scholar, why do you come so soon? 
I used to come at ten o’clock, but now I’ll come 
at noon. Don’t you know me? ” 

Ha! Why, of course, I know you! ” cried 
Uncle Wiggily, in his jolly voice, as he put some 
lollypop oil on the doodle-oodleum of his auto. 

But, why are you crying? ” 

“ Because I’m going to be late at school 
again,” said the boy. “ You see of late I have 
been late a good many mornings, but this morn- 
ing I got up early, and was sure I would get 
there before noon.” 

“ And so you will, if you hurry,” Uncle Wig- 
gily said, looking at his watch, that was a cousin 
to the clock, up which, and down which, ran 
Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse. “ It isn’t 
anywhere near noon yet,” went on the rabbit 
gentleman. “ You can almost get to school on 
time this morning.” 

“ I suppose I could,” said the boy, “ and I 
got up early on purpose to do that. But now 
I have lost my way, and I don’t know where the 
school is. Oh, dear! Boo hoo! I’ll never get 
to school this week, I fear.” 

‘‘Oh, yes, you will!” said Uncle Wiggily, 
still more kindly. “ I’ll tell you what to do. 
Hop up in the automobile here with me, and I’ll 


150 Uncle Wiggily and the Late Scholar 


take you to the school. I know just where it is. 
Sammie and Susie Littletail, my rabbit friends, 
and Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels, 
as well as Nannie and Billie Wagtail, the goats, 
go there. Hop in I ” 

So Diller-a-Dollar, the late scholar, hopped in 
the auto, and he and Uncle Wiggily started off 
together. 

“ You’ll not be late this morning,” said the 
bunny uncle. ‘‘ I’ll get you there just about nine 
o’clock.” 

Well, Uncle Wiggily meant to do it, and he 
might have, only for what happened. First a 
hungry dog bit a piece out of one of the bologna 
sausage tires on the auto wheels, and they had 
to go slower. Then a hungry cat took another 
piece and they had to go still more slowly. 

A little farther on the tinkerum-tankerum of 
the automobile, which drinks gasolene, grew 
thirsty and Uncle Wiggily had to give it a glass 
of lemonade. This took more time. 

And finally when the machine went over a 
bump the cork came out of the box of talcum 
powder and it flew in the face of Uncle Wig- 
gily and the late scholar and they both sneezed 
so hard that the auto stopped. 

“ See! I told you we’d never get to school,” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Late Scholar 15 1 


sadly said the boy. “ Oh, dear ! And I thought 
this time teacher would not laugh, and ask me 
why I came so soon, when I was really late.'’ 

“ It’s too bad! ” Uncle Wiggily said. “ I did 
hope I could get you there on time. But wait a 
minute. Let me think. Ha! I have it! We 
are close to my bungalow. We’ll run there and 
get in my airship. That goes ever so much faster 
' than my auto, and I’ll have you to school in no 
time.” 

No sooner said than done ! In the airship the 
late scholar and Uncle Wiggily reached school 
just as the nine o’clock bell was ringing, and so 
Diller-a-Dollar was on time this time after all. 
And the teacher said : 

‘‘ Oh, Diller-a-Dollar, my ten o’clock scholar, 
you may stand up in line. You used to come in 
very late, but now you come at nine.” 

So the late scholar was not late after all, thanks 
to Uncle Wiggily, and if the egg beater doesn’t 
go to sleep in the rice pudding, where it can’t 
get out to go sleigh-riding with the potato 
masher. I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily 
and Baa-Baa, the black sheep. 


CHAPTER XXIII 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND BAA-BAA BLACK SHEEP 

My goodness ! But it’s cold to-day ! ” ex- 
claimed Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice rab- 
bit gentleman, as he came down to breakfast in 
his hollow-stump bungalow one morning. ‘‘ It 
is very cold.” 

“ Indeed it is,” said Nurse Jane Fuzzy 
Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, as she 
put the hot buttered cabbage cakes on the table. 

If you go out you had better wear your fur 
coat.” 

“ I shall,” spoke the bunny uncle. “ And I 
probably shall call on Mother Goose. She asked 
me to stop in the next time I went past.” 

“ What for? ” Nurse Jane wanted to know. 

“ Oh, Little Jack Horner hurt his thumb the 
last time he pulled a plum out of his Christmas 
pie, and Mother Goose wanted me to look at 
it, and see if she had better call in Dr. Possum. 
So I’ll stop and have a look.” 

152 


Uncle Wiggily and Baa-Baa Black Sheep 153 


Well, give her my love,’’ said Nurse Jane, 
and Uncle Wiggily promised that he would. 

A little later he started off across the fields and 
through the woods to the place where Mother 
Goose lived, not far from his own hollow-stump 
bungalow. Uncle Wiggily had on his fur over- 
coat, for it was cold. It had been warm the day 
before, when he had taken Diller-a-Dollar, the 
ten o’clock scholar, to school, but now the 
weather had turned cold again. 

“ Come in ! ” called Mother Goose, when 
Uncle Wiggily had tapped with his paw on her 
door. “ Come in ! ” 

The bunny uncle went in, and looked at the 
thumb of Little Jack Horner, who was playing 
marbles with Little Boy Blue. 

“ Does your thumb hurt you much. Jack? ” 
asked Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Yes, I am sorry to say it does. I’m not going 
to pull any more plums out of Christmas pies. 
I’m going to eat cake instead,” said Jack Horner. 

“ Well, I’ll go get Dr. Possum for you,” of- 
fered Uncle Wiggily. I think that will be 
best,” he remarked to Mother Goose. 

Wrapped in his warm fur overcoat. Uncle 
Wiggily once more started off over the fields 
and through the woods. He had not gone very 


154 Uncle Wiggily and Baa-Baa Black Sheep 


far before he heard a queer sort of crying noise, 
like: 

‘‘Baa! Baa! Baa!” 

“ Ha ! That sounds like a little lost lamb,” 
said the bunny uncle, “ only there are no little 
lambs out this time of year. Til take a look. It 
may be some one in trouble, whom I can help.” 

Uncle Wiggily looked around the corner of 
a stone fence, and there he saw a sheep shivering 
in the cold, for most of his warm, fleecy wool 
had been sheared off. Oh ! how the sheep shiv- 
ered in the cold. 

“ Why, what is the matter with you? ” asked 
Uncle Wiggily, kindly. 

“ I am c-c-c-c-cold,” said the sheep, shiver- 
ingly. 

“ What makes you cold? ” the bunny uncle 
wanted to know. 

“ Because they cut off so much of my wool. 
You know how it is with me, for I am in the 
Mother Goose book. Listen ! 

Baa-baa, black sheep, have you any wool? 
Yes, sir; yes, sir; three bags full. 

One for the master, one for the man. 

And one for the little boy who lives in the 
lane.' 


(t ( 


Uncle Wiggily and Baa-Baa Black Sheep 155 


That's the way I answered when they asked 
me if I had any wool," said Baa-baa. 

“ And what did they do? " asked the bunny 
uncle. 

‘‘ Why they sheared off my fleece, three bags 
of it. I didn't mind them taking the first bag 
full, for I had plenty and it was so warm I 
thought Spring was coming. And it doesn't 
hurt to cut off my fleecy wool, any more than it 
hurts to cut a boy's hair. And after they took 
the first bag full of wool for the master they took 
a second bag for the man. I didn't mind that, 
either. But when they took the third " 

“ Then they really did take three? " asked 
Uncle Wiggily, in surprise. 

Oh, yes, to be sure. Why it's that way in 
the book, of Mother Goose, you know, and they 
had to do just as the book says." 

I suppose so," agreed Uncle Wiggily, sadly 

like. 

‘‘ Well, after they took the third bag of wool 
off my back the weather grew colder, and I be- 
gan to shiver. Oh! how cold I was; and how 
I shivered and shook. Of course if the master 
and the man, and the little boy who lives in the 
lane, had known I was going to shiver so, they 
would not have taken the last bag of wool. 


156 Uncle Wiggily and Baa-Baa Black Sheep 


Especially the little boy, as he is very kind to 
me. 

“ But now it is done, and it will be a long 
while before my wool grows out again. And as 
long as it is cold weather I will shiver, I sup- 
pose,'’ said Baa-baa, the black sheep. 

“ No, you shall not shiver ! ” cried Uncle Wig- 

gily- 

“ How can you stop me? " asked the black 
sheep. 

“ By wrapping my old fur coat around you," 
said the rabbit gentleman. “ I have two fur 
overcoats, a new one and an old one. I am wear- 
ing the new one. The old one is at my hollow- 
stump bungalow. You go there and tell Nurse 
Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy to give it to you. Tell her I 
said so. Or you can go there and wait for me, 
as I am going to get Dr. Possum to fix the thumb 
of Little Jack Horner, who sat in a corner, eat- 
ing a Christmas pie." 

“ You are very kind," said Baa-baa. “ I’ll go 
to your bungalow and wait there for you." 

So he did, shaking and shivering all the way, 
but he soon became warm when he sat by Nurse 
Jane’s fire. And when Uncle Wiggily came 
back from having sent Dr. Possum to Little Jack 
Horner, the rabbit gentleman wrapped his old 


Uncle Wiggily and Baa-Baa Black Sheep 157 


fur coat around Baa-baa, the black sheep, who 
was soon as warm as toast. 

And Baa-baa wore Uncle Wiggily’s old fur 
coat until warm weather came, when the sheep’s 
wool grew out long again. So everything was 
all right, you see. 

And now, having learned the lesson that if 
you cut your hair too short you may have to wear 
a fur cap to stop yourself from getting cold, we 
will wait for the next story, which, if the pencil 
box doesn’t jump into the ink well and get a pail 
of glue to make the lollypop stick fast to the 
roller-skates, will be about Uncle Wiggily and 
Polly Flinders. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND POLLY FLINDERS 

“ There! ” cried Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, 
the muskrat lady housekeeper, who took care of 
the hollow-stump bungalow for Uncle Wiggily 
Longears, the rabbit gentleman. “ There, it is 
all finished at last ! 

“ What’s all finished? ” asked the bunny 
uncle, who was reading the paper in his easy 
chair near the fire, for the weather was still cold. 
“ I hope you don’t mean you have finished living 
with me. Nurse Jane? For I would be very 
lonesome if you were to go away.” 

“ Oh, don’t worry. I’ll not leave you, Wiggy,” 
she said. “ What I meant was that I had fin- 
ished making the new dress for Susie Littletail, 
the rabbit girl.” 

“ Good ! ” cried the bunny uncle. “ A new 
dress for my little niece Susie. That’s fine 1 If 
you like. Nurse Jane, I’ll take it to her.” 

“ I wish you would,” spoke the muskrat lady. 
‘‘ I have not time myself. Just be careful of it. 

158 


Uncle Wiggily and Polly Flinders 159 


Don’t let the bad fox or the skillery-scalery alli- 
gator with humps on his ears bite holes in it.” 

“ I won’t,” promised Uncle Wiggily. So 
taking the dress, which Nurse Jane had sewed 
for Susie, over his paw, and with his tall silk 
hat over his ears, and carrying his red, white 
and blue striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, 
off Uncle Wiggily started for the Littletail 
home. 

“ Susie will surely like her dress,” thought the 
rabbit gentleman. It has such pretty colors.” 
For it had, being pink and blue and red and yel- 
low and purple and lavender and strawberry 
and lemon and Orange Mountain colors. There 
may have been other colors in it, but I can think 
of no more right away. 

Uncle Wiggily was going along past Old 
Mother Hubbard’s house, and past the place 
where Mother Goose lived, when, coming to a 
place near a big tree. Uncle Wiggily saw an- 
other house. And from inside the house came 
a crying sound. 

" Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do? ” 
sobbed a voice. 

“ Ah, ha ! More trouble ! ” cried Uncle Wig- 
gily. “ I seem to be finding lots of people in 
trouble lately. Well, now to see who this is ! ” 


i6o Uncle Wiggily and Polly Flinders 


Going up to the house, and peering in a win- 
dow, Uncle Wiggily saw a little girl sitting be- 
fore a fireplace. And this little girl was crying. 

“ Hello ! ” called Uncle Wiggily, in his jolly 
voice, as he opened the window. “ What is the 
matter? Are you Little Bo Peep, and are you 
crying because you have lost your sheep? ” 

“ No, Uncle Wiggily,'^ answered the little 
girl. “ I am crying because I have spoiled my 
nice new dress, and when my mother comes 
home and finds it out she will whip me.’’ 

“ Oh, no ! ” cried the bunny uncle. Your 
mother will never do that. But who are you? ” 
“ Why, don’t you know? I am little Polly 
Flinders, I sat among the cinders, warming my 
pretty little toes. ‘ And her mother came and 
caught her, and she whipped her little daughter, 
for spoiling her nice new clothes.’ 

“ That’s what it says in the Mother Goose 
book,” said Polly Flinders, “ and, of course, 
that’s what will happen to me. Oh, dear! I 
don’t want to be whipped. And I didn’t really 
spoil quite all my nice new clothes. It’s only my 
dress, and some hot ashes got on that.” 

“ Well, that isn’t so bad,” said Uncle Wig- 
gily. “ It may be that I can clean it for you.” 
But when he looked at Polly’s dress he saw that 


Uncle Wiggily and Polly Flinders i6i 


it could not be fixed, for, like Pussy Cat Mole’s 
best petticoat, Polly’s dress had been burned 
through with hot coals, so that it was full of 
holes. 

“ No, that can’t be fixed. I’m sorry to say,” 
said Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” sobbed Polly Flinders, as she 
sat among the cinders. “ What shall I do? I 
don’t want to be whipped by my mother.” 

“ And you shall not be,” said the bunny uncle. 

Not that I think she would whip you, but we 
will not give her a chance. See here, I have a 
new dress that I was taking to Susie Littletail. 
Nurse Jane can easily make my little rabbit niece 
another. 

“ So you take this one, and give me your old 
one. And when your mother comes she will 
not see the holes in your dress. Only you must 
tell her what happened, or it would not be fair. 
Always tell mothers and fathers everything that 
happens to you.” 

I will,” promised Polly Flinders. 

She soon took off her old dress and put on the 
new one intended for Susie, and it just fitted her. 

“ Oh, how lovely ! ” cried Polly Flinders, 
looking at her toes. 


i 62 Uncle Wiggily and Polly Flinders 


“ And now,” said Uncle Wiggily, “ you must 
sit no more among the cinders.” 

“ ril not,” Polly promised, and she went and 
sat down in front of the looking-glass, where 
she could look proudly at the new dress — not 
too proudly, you understand, but just proud 
enough. 

Polly thanked Uncle Wiggily, who took the 
old soiled and burned dress to Susie’s house. 
When the rabbit girl saw the bunny uncle com- 
ing she ran to meet him, crying: 

“ Oh! did Nurse Jane send you with my new 
dress? ” 

“She did,” answered Uncle Wiggily, “ but 
see what happened to it on the way,” and he 
showed Susie the burned holes and all. 

“ Oh, dear 1 ” cried the little rabbit girl, sadly. 
“ Oh, dear I” 

“ Never mind,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, kindly, 
and he told all that had happened. It was a sort 
of adventure, you see. 

“Oh, I’m glad you gave Polly my dress!” 
said Susie, clapping her paws. 

“ Nurse Jane shall make you another dress,” 
promised Uncle Wiggily, and the muskrat lady 
did. And when the mother of Polly Flinders 
came home she thought the new dress was just 


Uncle Wiggily and Polly Flinders 163 


fine, and she did not whip her little daughter. 
In fact, she said she would not have done so 
anyhow. So that part of the Mother Goose book 
is wrong. 

And thus everything came out all right, and 
if the shaving brush doesn’t whitewash the 
blackboard, so the chalk can’t dance on it with 
the pencil sharpener. I’ll tell you next about 
Uncle Wiggily and the garden maid. 


CHAPTER XXV 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE GARDEN MAID 

“ Hey, ho, hum! ” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily 
Longears, the rabbit gentleman, as he stretched 
up his twinkling, pink nose, and reached his 
paws around his back to scratch an itchy place. 
“ Ho, hum 1 I wonder what will happen to me 
to-day? ’’ 

“ Are you going out again? ’’ asked Nurse 
Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady house- 
keeper. “ It seems to me that you go out a great 
deal, Mr. Longears.’’ 

“Well, yes; perhaps I do,” admitted the 
bunny uncle. “ But more things happen to me 
when I go out than when I stay in the house.” 

“ And do you like to have things happen to 
you? ” asked Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. 

“ When they are adventures I do,” answered 
the rabbit gentleman. “ So here I go off for an 
adventure.” 

Off started the nice, old, bunny uncle, carry- 
ing his red, white and blue striped barber-pole 
rheumatism crutch — over his shoulder this time. 
164 


Uncle Wiggily and the Garden Maid 165 


For his pain did not hurt him much, as the sun 
was shining, so he did not have to limp on the 
crutch, which Nurse Jane had gnawed for him 
out of a corn-stalk. 

Uncle Wiggily had not gone very far toward 
the fields and woods before he heard Nurse Jane 
calling to him. 

“Oh, Wiggyl Wiggy, I say! Wait a mo- 
ment ! ” 

“ Yes, what is it? asked the rabbit gentle- 
man, turning around and looking over his 
shoulder. “ Have I forgotten anything? 

“ No, it was I who forgot,'' said the muskrat 
lady housekeeper. “ I forgot to tell you to bring 
me a bottle of perfume. Mine is all gone." 

“ All right. I'll bring you some," promised 
Mr. Longears. “ It will give me something to 
do — to go to the perfume store. Perhaps an ad- 
venture may happen to me there." 

Once more he was on his way, and soon he 
reached the perfume store, kept by a nice buzz- 
ing bee lady, who gathered sweet smelling per- 
fume, as well as honey, from the flowers in Sum- 
mer and put it carefully away for the Winter. 

“ Some perfume for Nurse Jane, eh? " said 
the bee lady, as the rabbit gentleman knocked 
on her hollow-tree house. “ There you are, 


i66 Uncle Wiggily and the Garden Maid 


Uncle Wiggily/' and she gave him a bottle of 
the nice scent made from a number of flowers. 

“ My ! That smells lovely ! " exclaimed Uncle 
Wiggily, as he pulled out the cork, and took a 
long sniff. ‘‘Nurse Jane will surely like that 
perfume! " 

With the sweet scented bottle in his paw, the 
rabbit gentleman started back toward his hol- 
low-stump bungalow. He had not gone very 
far before he saw a nurse maid, out in the gar- 
den, back of a big house. There was a basket 
in front of the maid, with some clothes in it, and 
stretched across the garden was a line, with more 
clothes on it, flapping in the wind. 

“ Ha I " exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. “ I won- 
der if that garden maid, hanging up the clothes, 
wouldn’t like to smell Nurse Jane’s perfume? 
Nurse Jane will not mind, and perhaps it will be 
doing that maid a kindness to let her smell some- 
thing sweet, after she has been smelling washing- 
soap-suds all morning.” 

So the bunny uncle, who was always doing 
kind things, hopped over to the garden maid, 
and politely asked: 

“ Wouldn’t you like to smell this perfume? ” 
and he held out the bottle he had bought of the 
bee lady. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Garden Maid 167 


The garden maid turned around, and said in 
a sad voice: 

“ Thank you, Uncle Wiggily. It is very kind 
of you, Fm sure, and I would like to smell your 
perfume. But I can't.'’ 

Why not? " asked the bunny uncle. “ The 
cork is out of the bottle. See ! " 

“ That may very well be," went on the garden 
maid, “ but the truth of the matter is that I can- 
not smell, because a blackbird has nipped off 
my nose." 

Uncle Wiggily, in great surprise, looked, and, 
surely enough, a blackbird had nipped off the 
nose of the garden maid. 

“ Bless my whiskers ! " cried the bunny uncle. 

What a thing for a blackbird to do — nip off 
your nose! Why did he do such an impolite 
thing as that? " 

Why, he had to do it, because it's that way 
in the Mother Goose book," said the maid. 

Don't you remember? It goes this way: 

“ ‘ The King was in the parlor. 
Counting out his money. 

The Queen was in the kitchen. 

Eating bread and honey. 


i68 Uncle Wiggily and the Garden Maid 


The maid was in the garden, 

Hanging out the clothes, 

Along came a blackbird 
And nipped off her nose/ 

“ That’s the way it was,” said the garden 
maid. 

“ Oh, yes, I remember now,” spoke Uncle 
Wiggily. 

“ Well, I’m the maid who was in the garden, 
hanging out the clothes,” said she, “ and, as 
you can see, along came a blackbird and nipped 
off my nose. That is, you can’t see the black- 
bird, but you can see the place where my nose 
ought to be.” 

“ Yes,” answered Uncle Wiggily, “ I can. 
It’s too bad. That blackbird ought to have his 
feathers ruffled.” 

“ Oh, he didn’t mean to be bad,” said the gar- 
den maid. “ He had to do as it says in the book, 
and he had to nip off my nose. So that’s why I 
can’t smell Nurse Jane’s nice perfume.” 

Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute. Then 
he said : 

“ Just you wait here. I think I can fix it so 
you can smell as well as ever.” 

Then the bunny uncle hurried off through the 


Uncle Wiggily and the Garden Maid 169 


woods until he found Jimmie Caw-Caw, the big 
black crow boy. 

“ Jimmie,'' said the bunny uncle, “ will you 
fly off, find the blackbird, and ask him to give 
back the garden maid's nose so she can smell 
perfume? " 

‘‘ I will," said Jimmie Caw-Caw, very po- 
litely. “ I certainly will ! " 

Away he flew, and, after a while, in the deep, 
dark part of the woods he found the blackbird, 
sitting on a tree. 

“ Please give me back the garden maid's 
nose," said Jimmie, politely. 

Certainly," answered the blackbird, also po- 
litely. I only took it off in fun. Here it is 
back. I'm sorry I bothered the garden maid, but 
I had to, as it's that way in the Mother Goose 
book." 

Off to Uncle Wiggily flew Jimmie, the crow 
boy, with the young lady's nose, and soon Dr. 
Possum had fastened it back on the garden 
maid's face as good as ever. 

‘‘ Now you can smell the perfume," said 
Uncle Wiggily, and when he held up the bottle 
the maid said : 

‘‘ Oh, what a lovely smell ! " 

So the bunny uncle left a little perfume in a 


lyo Uncle Wiggily and the Garden Maid 


bottle for the garden maid, and then she went 
on hanging up the clothes, and she felt very 
happy because she had a nose. So you see how 
kind Uncle Wiggily and Jimmie were, and 
Nurse Jane, too, liked the perfume very much. 

So if the little girl’s roller-skates don’t run 
over the pussy’s tail and ruffle it all up so she 
can’t go to the moving picture party. I’ll tell 
you next of Uncle Wiggily and the King. 


CHAPTER XXVI 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE KING 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old rab- 
bit gentleman, was sitting in an easy chair in his 
hollow-stump bungalow, one day, looking out 
of the window at the blue sky, and he was feeling 
quite happy. And why should he not be happy? 

Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, his muskrat lady 
housekeeper, had just given him a nice break- 
fast of cabbage pancakes, with carrot maple 
sugar tied in a bow-knot in the middle, and 
Uncle Wiggily had eaten nine. Nine cakes, I 
mean, not nine bows. 

“ And now,” said the bunny uncle to himself, 
“ I think I shall go out and take a walk. Per- 
haps I may have an adventure. Do you want 
any perfume, or anything like that from the 
store? ” asked Mr. Longears of Miss Fuzzy 
Wuzzy. 

“ No, thank you, I think not,” answered the 
muskrat lady. ‘‘ Just bring yourself home, and 
that will be all.” 


' 172 Uncle Wiggily and the King 


“ Oh, I’ll do that all right,” promised the 
bunny gentleman. So away he hopped, over the 
fields and through the woods, humming to him- 
self a little song which went something like this : 

I’m feeling happy now and gay. 

Why shouldn’t I, this lovely day? 

’Tis time enough to be quite sad. 

When wind and rain make weather bad. 
But, even then, one ought to try 
To think that soon it will be dry. 

So then, no matter what the weather. 

Smile, as though tickled by a feather.” 

Uncle Wiggily felt happier than ever when 
he had sung this song, but, as he went along a 
little further, he came, all at once, to a very nice 
house indeed, out of which floated the sound of 
a sad voice. 

Uncle Wiggily was surprised to hear this, for 
the house was such a nice one that it seemed no 
one ought to be unhappy who lived there. 

The house was made of gold and silver, with 
diamond windows, and the chimney was made 
of a red ruby stone, which, as every one knows, 
is very expensive. But with all that the sad 


Uncle Wiggily and the King 173 


voice came sailing out of one of the opened dia- 
mond windows, and the voice said : 

‘‘Oh, dear! It’s gone! I can’t find it! I 
dropped it and it rolled down a crack in the 
floor. Now I’ll never get it again. Oh, dear!” 

“ Well, that sounds like some one in trouble,” 
said the bunny uncle. “ I must see if I cannot 
help them,” for Uncle Wiggily helped real folk, 
who lived in fine houses, as well as woodland 
animals, who lived in hollow trees. 

Uncle Wiggily hopped up to the open dia- 
mond window of the gold and silver house, with 
the red ruby chimney, and, poking his nose in- 
side, the rabbit gentleman asked: 

“ Is there some one here in trouble whom I 
may have the pleasure of helping? ” 

“ Yes,” answered a voice. “ I’m here, and 
I’m surely in trouble.” 

“ Who are you, and what is the trouble, if I 
may ask? ” politely went on Uncle Wiggily. 

“ I am the king,” was the answer. “ This is 
my palace, but, with all that, I am in trouble. 
Come in.” 

In hopped Uncle Wiggily, and there, surely 
enough, was the king, but he was in the kitchen, 
down on his hands and knees, looking with one 


174 Uncle Wiggily and the King 


eye through a crack in the floor, which is some- 
thing kings hardly ever do. 

“ It’s down there,” he said. “ And I can’t get 
it. I’m too fat to go through the crack.” 

“ What’s down there? ” Uncle Wiggily 
wanted to know. 

“ My money,” answered the king. “ You 
may have heard about me,” and he recited this 
little verse: 

“ The king was in the kitchen. 

Counting out his money; 

The queen was in the parlor. 

Eating bread and honey; 

The maid was in the garden. 

Hanging out the clothes. 

Along came a blackbird. 

Who nipped off her nose.” 

The fat man got up off the kitchen floor. 

“ I’m the king,” he said, taking up his gold 
and diamond crown from a kitchen chair, where 
he had put it as he kneeled down, so it would not 
fall off and be dented. “ From Mother Goose, 
you know; don’t you? ” 

“ Yes, I know,” answered Uncle Wiggily. 

I dare say you’ll find the queen in the par- 


Uncle Wiggily and the King 175 


lor eating bread and honey/' went on the king. 
“ At least I saw her start for there with a plate, 
knife and fork as I was coming here. And, no 
doubt, the maid is in the garden, where she'll 
pretty soon have her nose nipped off by a black- 
bird." 

“ That part happened yesterday," said Uncle 
Wiggily. “ I was there just after it happened, 
and I got Jimmie Caw-Caw, the crow boy, to 
fly after the blackbird and bring back the maid's 
nose. She is as well as ever now and can smell 
all kinds of perfume." 

'‘Good!" cried the fat king. “You were 
very kind to help her. I only wish you could 
help me. But I don't see how you can. My 
money, which I was counting, fell out of my 
hands and dropped down a crack in the floor. I 
can see it lying down there in the dirt, but I can't 
get at it unless I move to one side my gold and 
silver palace, and I don't want to do that. I 
don't suppose you can move a palace, can you? " 
And he looked askingly at Uncle Wiggily. 

“ No, I can't do that," said the bunny uncle. 
“ But still I think I can get your money without 
moving the palace." 

“ How? " asked the king. 

“ Why, I can go outside," said Mr. Longears, 


176 Uncle Wiggily and the King 


“ and with my strong paws, which are just made 
for digging, I can burrow, or dig, a place 
through the dirt under your palace-house, crawl 
in and get what you dropped.” 

“ Oh, please do ! ” cried the king. 

So Uncle Wiggily did. 

Down under the cellar wall of the palace, 
through the dirt, dug the bunny gentleman, with 
his strong paws. Pretty soon he was right under 
the kitchen, and there, just where they had 
dropped through the crack, were the king’s gold 
and silver pennies and other pieces of money. 
Uncle Wiggily picked them up, put them in his 
pocket and crawled out again. 

“ There you are, king,” he said. “ You have 
your money back.” 

“ Oh, thank you ever so much I ” cried the 
king. “ I’ll have the cook give you some car- 
rots.” And he did, before he went on counting 
his money in the kitchen. And this time he 
stuffed a dish-rag in the crack so no more pennies 
would fall through. 

Thus we see how Uncle Wiggily helped the 
king, and in the next chapter, if 'the condensed 
milk doesn’t jump out of the can and scare the 
coffee-pot so it drinks tea. I’ll tell you of Uncle 
Wiggily and the queen. 


Uncle Wiggily and the King 177 


But that story will have to go in the second 
part of this book, together with some others, for 
now we are just halfway through, just as when 
you cut an orange into two parts. 

So, if you are all ready, you may turn the page 
and get ready for what comes next. 

END OF PART I 






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CONTENTS 


PART 11. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Uncle Wiggily and the Queen 9 

II. Uncle Wiggily and Ding-Dong Pussy . . 15 

III. Uncle Wiggily and the Shoe-Lady. ... 22 

IV. Uncle Wiggily and Jack-Be-Nimhle. . . 29 

V. Uncle Wiggily and Tommy Tinker’s 

Dog 35 

VI. Uncle Wiggily and Mary’s Lamh 41 

VII. Uncle Wiggily and Peter Piper 47 

VIII. Uncle Wiggily and the Moon-Man. ... 53 

IX. Uncle Wiggily and Humpty Dumpty 59 

X. Uncle Wiggily and Old King Cole .... 65 

XI. Uncle Wiggily and Peter- Peter 72 

XII. Uncle Wiggily and the Butcher 78 

XIII. Uncle Wiggily and the Baker 84 

XIV. Uncle Wiggily and the Candlestick 

Maker 91 

XV. Uncle Wiggily and Tom-Tom 97 


Contents. 


XVI. Uncle Wiggily and the Crooked Man. . 103 

XVII. Uncle Wiggily and the Barber 110 

XVIII. Uncle Wiggily and the Blackbirds. ... 116 

XIX. Uncle Wiggily and the Fat Man 123 

XX. Uncle Wiggily and the Tarts 129 

XXI. Uncle Wiggily and the Jumping Cow. . 136 

XXII. Uncle Wiggily and the Pussies 143 

XXIII. Uncle Wiggily and the Leaves 150 

XXIV. Uncle Wiggily and the Wise Man. . . . 156 

XXV. Uncle Wiggily and the Tailors 163 

XXVI. Uncle Wiggily and the Bat 169 


Uncle Wiggily and Mother 
Goose 


CHAPTER I 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE QUEEN 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentle- 
man, was hopping along through the woods one 
day, limping a little on his red, white and blue 
striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, for he 
had some pain, and he was wondering if any ad- 
ventures would happen to him when, all of a 
sudden, there came a big puff of wind, and blew 
off his tall silk hat. 

My goodness me sakes alive, and some rice 
pudding! ” cried the bunny uncle, giving a hop, 
skip and a jump after his hat. “ I had forgotten 
that this is the first of March, when the wind 
begins to blow Winter away and blow Spring 
in its place. No wonder my hat went off I ” 

He raced after his hat, which was bounding 
along through the woods, rolling over and over 
like a boy’s hoop on the sidewalk. At last Uncle 
9 


10 Uncle Wiggily and the Queen 


Wiggily caught his hat, but, as he was putting 
it down hard over his ears, along came another 
puff of wind, and this time blew away his red, 
white and blue striped crutch. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” cried the bunny uncle. ‘‘ What 
a lot of trouble Fm having to-day! I don’t be- 
lieve any one has as much trouble as I.” 

Uncle Wiggily hopped after his crutch, and 
caught it just as it was about ready to be blown 
into a bramble briar bush. 

“ It’s a good thing it didn’t go in there,” he 
said, or I’d have been all scratched up getting 
it out. Oh, dear! I wonder if I am going to 
have any more trouble! No one has as much 
as I.” 

“ Oh, yes they have,” said a little voice in the 
bramble briar bush. “ Yes, they have! I’m in 
trouble right now.” 

“ Who are you and what is the trouble? ” 
asked the bunny uncle. 

“ I am the bee lady who keeps the honey and 
perfume store,” was the answer. “ I was on my 
way to take some perfume to Mrs. Wibble- 
wobble, the duck lady, and when I tried to fly 
through this bramble briar bush my wings were 
caught, and I can’t get out. Isn’t that trouble 
enough? ” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Queen 


II 


“ It certainly is,” answered Uncle Wiggily. 
“ I am sorry you are in trouble, for I know what 
it means. But I will help you out.” 

So he did, very gently loosening the stickery 
thorns of the bramble briar bushes from the bee 
lady's wings. 

‘‘ Oh, thank you,” she said. “ Now, I can fly 
on with the perfume for Mrs. Wibblewobble. 
If ever I can help you, or any friends of yours, 
I shall. Uncle Wiggily.” 

“ Thank you,” answered the rabbit gentle- 
man. Then, having given the bunny uncle a 
smell from the little bottle of perfume she car- 
ried, the bee lady flew on. 

With his tall silk hat and crutch the rabbit 
gentleman now again went on through the 
woods, until once more he came to the gold and 
silver palace-house, with diamond windows, and 
a chimney made of a red ruby stone. 

“ Ha ! That's where the king lives, who was 
in the kitchen, counting out his money,” thought 
Mr. Longears. “ I helped him, and I wonder 
if there is any one else in the palace who is in 
need of my help? ” 

Just then, from one of the open parlor dia- 
mond windows, there came a voice saying 
sadly : 


12 Uncle Wiggily and the Queen 


“ Oh, dear I It’s all gone ! There isn’t a bit 
left, and what I’m going to do, I don’t know. 
Oh, dear!” 

“ That sounds like trouble,” said the bunny 
uncle. “ I’ll see what it is.” 

He went closer to the window, and there, in 
the parlor, he saw a beautiful lady, all dressed 
in silk and satin and cloth-of-gold, with a 
diamond crown on her head. In one hand 
she had a plate, and in the other a knife and 
fork. 

“ What is the matter? ” asked Uncle Wiggily, 
politely. “ What is gone — the cook? And do 
you have to do the dishes yourself? ” 

No, thank you, the cook hasn’t gone,” said 
the lady. “ I am the queen, as you can see, and 
I ought to be in the parlor, eating bread and 
honey. I’m in the parlor right enough, as you 
can tell by the piano being here. And I have 
the bread, but there is no honey 1 There isn’t a 
bit of honey in the palace for me to eat, so I 
don’t see how I can make things come out right, 
as they do in the Mother Goose book. Oh, 
dear! ” 

“ Don’t worry,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. 
‘‘ Perhaps I can mend matters for you.” 

“ I don’t see how you can,” said the queen. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Queen 13 


You haven’t any honey in your pocket; have 
you ? ” she asked. 

‘‘ No,” answered the bunny uncle. “ I guess 
I would be all stuck up, like a piece of fly paper, 
if I carried honey in my pocket.” 

“ Then if you have no honey you can’t help 
me,” said the queen, sadly. “ You see the king 
is in the kitchen, counting out his money. I am 
in here, and I ought to be eating honey. And 
the maid is in the garden, hanging out the 
clothes ” 

“ I know all about that, and all about her 
nose,” said Uncle Wiggily, with a smile. “ I 
helped the king get back his money, I helped 
the maid get back her nose, and now I am going 
to help you get your honey.” 

‘‘ Oh, how good of you ! ” cried the queen, 
who felt like hugging Uncle Wiggily, only 
queens do not do such things, you know. “ And 
I really need the honey, for I am hungry. But 
how can you get it? ” the queen asked. 

“ I’ll show you,” answered the rabbit gentle- 
man. Then, going to the open window, he 
made a noise like a flower, and called : 

“ Mrs. Bee! Mrs. Bee! Will you do me a 
favor now? You promised you would, and now 
is your chance. Will you do me a favor? ” 


14 Uncle Wiggily and the Queen 


“ Yes, I will,’' answered a buzzing voice, and 
along flew the bee lady, whom Uncle Wiggily 
had helped out of the briar bush. What is it 
you wish? ” she buzzed. 

“ Some honey for the queen to eat in the par- 
lor,” spoke the bunny uncle. “ She hasn’t any, 
and she must have some to be like the story in 
the Mother Goose book, or things will not come 
out right. The queen needs honey.” 

“ She shall have some at once,” buzzed Mrs. 
Bee. Away she flew and pretty soon she came 
back with a lot of honey. 

‘‘ Oh, thank you, and you, too. Uncle Wig- 
gily,” cried the queen, as she sat in the parlor 
and ate the sweet stuff. “ Now everything is all 
right.” 

And so it was. Uncle Wiggily having made it 
so. And if the clothes line doesn’t twist itself 
in and out among the pickets of the fence like 
a carpenter’s shaving and try to play hop-scotch 
with the rose bush. I’ll tell you next about the 
bunny gentleman and the ding-dong-bell pussy. 


CHAPTER II 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND DING-DONG PUSSY 

Mother Goose, the Old Woman Who Lived 
in a Shoe and Old Mother Hubbard hurried one 
day across the field and through the woods, to 
the hollow-stump bungalow of Uncle Wiggily 
Longears, the rabbit gentleman. Nurse Jane 
Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, 
looking out of the hollow-stump window, saw 
them. 

“My goodness. Uncle Wiggily!” cried 
Nurse Jane. “Oh! Look who’s coming this 
way. Company ! Oh, my ! And my shoes not 
buttoned ! Oh, dear ! ” 

The bunny uncle stepped to the window be- 
side the muskrat lady. 

“ They’re coming here,” said Mr. Longears. 
“ Mother Goose, Mrs. Hubbard and the Shoe 
Lady. You aren’t giving a surprise party, are 
you. Nurse Jane, that they are coming to? ” 

“ No, indeed,” answered Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. 
“ Though to see the three of them coming this 

15 


i6 Uncle Wiggily and Ding-Dong Pussy 


way is a surprise to me. Something must be the 
matter. See how worried they look.'’ 

“ Trouble, I suppose,” said Uncle Wiggily. 

Well, if they are in trouble it will give me 
pleasure to help them out. Open the door. 
Nurse Jane.” 

“ Why, they can't get in here,” said Miss 
Fuzzy Wuzzy. “ Our little hollow-stump bun- 
galow is too small for Mother Hubbard, Mother 
Goose and the Shoe Lady, or even one of them.” 

“ So it is,” agreed Uncle Wiggily. “ I'll have 
to go outside to talk to them,” and he did, politely 
hopping through the hollow-stump window. 

‘‘Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Old Mother 
Hubbard. “Oh, dear!” 

“ Such trouble! ” exclaimed the Old Woman 
Who Lived in a Shoe, but who I shall call the 
Shoe Lady, for short, “ Oh, such trouble ! ” 

“ It's Pussy ! ” said Mother Goose. “ She's 
gone ! ” 

“ Gone? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. “ Gone? 
Who is Pussy? ” 

“ Why, you know,” said Mother Goose. 
“ Pussy is a cousin to Fuzzo, Wuzzo and 
Muzzo, the three little kittens, who lost their 
mittens.” 

“ Oh, yes, to be sure,” said Uncle Wiggily. 


Uncle Wiggily and Ding-Dong Pussy 17 


‘‘I remember! So Pussy has gone; has she? 
What happened to her? '' 

“ That’s what we don’t know, and what we 
came to you to have you find out,” said Mother 
Goose. “ You see. Pussy — that’s her first name, 
her last one is Mew — Pussy Mew came on a 
little visit to Mrs. Purr, who is her aunt, and the 
mother of the three little kittens who lost their 
mittens.” 

Oh, yes, I remember! ” said Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Well, Pussy is lost,” spoke the Shoe Lady. 
“ She went out to the store for Mrs. Purr while 
Fuzzo, Wuzzo and Muzzo were taking their 
tail-chasing lesson, and Pussy did not come 
back.” 

“ What did she go to the store after? ” Uncle 
Wiggily wanted to know. 

“ A yeast cake,” answered Mother Hubbard. 
‘‘ But the yeast cake didn’t come back, either.” 

Not having any legs, I don’t see how it 
could,” said Uncle Wiggily. “ But what is it 
you want me to do, ladies? ” he asked, making 
a polite bow. 

“ Find Pussy Mew,” said Mother Goose. 
‘‘ You were so clever at helping the king and 
queen and the maid in the garden hanging out 
the clothes, when along came a blackbird that 


i8 Uncle Wiggily and Ding-Dong Pussy 


nipped off her nose, that Fm sure you can find 
Pussy for us. We’re really worried about her. 
Please find her.” 

“ Fll try,” promised Uncle Wiggily. So in a 
little while off he started, limping along on his 
red, white and blue tall silk hat, with his barber- 
pole rheumatism crutch on his head. Oh, no I 
excuse me, if you please — I mean he had his 
crutch under his paw and his hat on his head. 

Over the fields and through the woods went 
Uncle Wiggily until, pretty soon, he came to 
the hollow-stump school where the lady mouse 
taught the animal children their lessons. The 
bell was ringing, for it was time for the children 
to run out to play at recess. 

Ha! I wonder if Pussy Mew could have 
gone to school, forgetting to come home with 
the yeast cake,” said Uncle Wiggily. ‘‘ Fll in- 
quire.” 

He asked the lady mouse teacher, but she said 
that Pussy was not in school, so Uncle Wiggily 
hurried on, looking all through the woods and 
over the fields. But no Pussy did he find until, 
all at once, as he came near a well, he felt thirsty 
for a drink of water. 

“ Oh, how I wish I had a drink 1 ” cried Uncle 
Wiggily. “ I wonder if I could get one.” 


Uncle Wiggily and Ding-Dong Pussy 19 


He went to the edge of the well, but it was an 
old one, and there was no rope or bucket by 
which water could be pulled up. Then the old 
rabbit gentleman saw something shining 
brightly down at the bottom of the well, and he 
called out: 

Is any one down there who could give me 
a drink of water? ” 

“ Yes, I am down here,’' was the answer, “ but 
I cannot give you a drink of water for I cannot 
get up myself.” 

“ Who are you? ” asked Uncle Wiggily, sur- 
prised like. 

Just then the school bell rang again, and a 
voice said : 

“ Ding-dong bell. Pussy’s in the well. 

Who put her in? Little Johnnie Green. 

Who pulled her out? Big Johnnie Stout. 

“ Only that last part isn’t right,” the voice 
went on, “ for Big Johnnie Stout hasn’t come to 
pull me out. But I’m in the well, as you can 
tell by the ding-dong bell. Oh, dear ! I don’t 
know what to do. I want so much to get out.” 

‘‘ I’ll help you out. Pussy,” said Uncle Wig- 
gily, kindly. “ I have been looking all over 


20 Uncle Wiggily and Ding-Dong Pussy 


for you. But if you are in the well how is it that 
you did not sink to the bottom? ” 

Because I have with me a yeast cake that I 
went to the store to get/' was the answer. “ The 
yeast cake makes bread light, so it will rise, and 
it made me light, so I could rise to the top of 
the water." 

‘‘ Good! " cried Uncle Wiggily. “ It was the 
shiny tinfoil of the yeast cake I saw at the bot- 
tom of the well. I’ll soon have you out now, 
Pussy." 

He gave a jump over to a wild grape vine, 
gnawed off a piece with his strong teeth, and 
then, using the grape vine as a rope, he lowered 
it down into the well. Pussy took hold of it with 
her claws and paws, putting the yeast cake in 
one ear, and Uncle Wiggily easily pulled her 
out. She was wet, but not hurt at all. 

Oh, thank you. Uncle Wiggily," Pussy 
Mew said. “ So it was you, and not Johnnie 
Stout, who pulled me out? " 

“ Of that there is no doubt," laughed Uncle 
Wiggily. But did Johnnie Green push you 
in?" 

‘‘ No, I stumbled and fell in," answered Pussy. 
‘‘ Everything about me in the Mother Goose 


Uncle Wiggily and Ding-Dong Pussy 21 


story is wrong except the part like ‘ ding-dong 
bell, Pussy’s in the well.’ I really was in.” 

Then Pussy hurried on to her aunt’s house 
with the yeast cake, and all was well. And 
Mother Goose was very thankful to Uncle Wig- 
gily for having helped the little cat, who, ever 
after that was called the “ ding-dong-bell pussy.” 

So in the next chapter, if the piano music 
doesn’t go to sleep in the bread box, where the 
phonograph can’t find it to play with. I’ll tell 
you about Uncle Wiggily and the Shoe Lady. 


CHAPTER III 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SHOE LADY 

‘‘ Where are you going, Uncle Wiggily? ’’ 
asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat 
lady, who kept house for Mr. Longears, the rab- 
bit gentleman. “ Where are you going this fine 
day? ” 

“ To the store,’’ answered the bunny uncle. 

To the store? Why, I don’t want anything,” 
spoke Nurse Jane. “ You are always so kind, 
going to the store whenever I need anything, but 
nothing is needed for the hollow-stump bunga- 
low to-day.” 

I am going to the store for myself,” Uncle 
Wiggily said. ‘‘ I am going to buy a new pair 
of shoes.” 

So off he hopped, leaning on his red, white 
and blue striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, 
over the fields and through the woods until he 
came to the shoe store. 

‘‘ A pair of shoes? Certainly,” said the 
22 


Uncle Wiggily and the Shoe Lady 23 


monkey-doodle gentleman who kept the store. 
‘‘ Will you have high shoes or low shoes? ” 

‘‘ Well, as it is near Spring Fll get low shoes, 
Uncle Wiggily said. “ They will be cooler if 
I should happen to go down to the Asbury Park 
ocean board walk.” 

“ Ties, we call them, instead of low shoes, but 
it is all the same,” went on the monkey doodle. 

Here you are.” 

He brought out a pair of low shoes, or ties, 
but, when Uncle Wiggily tried to get them on, 
his feet would not go into them. 

“ I see — too tight,” said the monkey doodle. 
“ I will put a little talcum powder in the shoes 
and your foot will then easily slip in.” 

But, even with the talcum powder. Uncle 
Wiggily's paws would not slip in. 

I must use a shoe-horn,” said the monkey. 

“ Is a shoe-horn something to play on? ” 
asked Uncle Wiggily. 

No, it is something to make a shoe slip on 
easily,” said the monkey doodle. He brought 
out a smooth, shiny piece of tin, like a big table- 
spoon without a handle. Holding this against 
his heel, Uncle Wiggily could easily slip his foot 
into his new shoe. Soon he had them both on, 
and they fitted him well. 


24 Uncle Wiggily and the Shoe Lady 


“ Are they too tight? ” asked the monkey 
doodle, as the bunny gentleman stepped around 
the store, practicing. 

“ No, they're just right," said Uncle Wiggily. 

They go on a bit hard, but once I have put 
them on with the shoe horn they are very nice, 
ril take them." 

“ And you may have some talcum powder and 
the shoe-horn to take with you, to put your shoes 
on easily whenever you wish," said the monkey. 
For you know Uncle Wiggily pulled the shoe- 
horn out of his shoe, once he had his foot in. 
They couldn't both be there at the same time, 
you see. 

Away hopped the rabbit gentleman in his new 
shoes and with the shoe-horn and the slippery- 
sliding talcum powder in his pocket. 

“ Well, now I have my new shoes I wonder 
if I will meet with an adventure to-day? " 
thought Uncle Wiggily, as he hopped on. And 
he did. I'll tell you about it. 

Pretty soon he came to a great, big shoe, stand- 
ing in the middle of the woods. The shoe had 
a roof over it, with a chimney sticking out of 
the top. There was a door to the shoe, and win- 
dows. In fact, it was a house, made out of a 
great, big shoe which a giant used to wear. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Shoe Lady 25 


Ha! This is where the Old Woman lives/* 
said Uncle Wiggily. ‘‘ The Shoe Lady. I won- 
der if she is at home? ** 

He was going to knock on the door and ask 
how all the children were, when, from inside 
the shoe there came the sound of crying; chil- 
dren crying ; many of them. 

Ha 1 I wonder if that means trouble? ** 
asked Uncle Wiggily of himself. “ I had better 
see if I can do anything to help.** 

He knocked on the door, and the Old Woman 
Who Lived in a Shoe, or Shoe Lady, as I call her 
for short, opened it. 

“ Is anything the matter? ** asked Uncle Wig- 
gily. I heard crying.** 

Of course,** spoke the Shoe Lady, ‘‘ the chil- 
dren always cry when I whip them. Don*t you 
know how it is in the Mother Goose book : 

‘ There was an old woman 
Who lived in a shoe. 

She had so many children 
She didn*t know what to do. 

She gave them some broth. 

Without any bread; 

She whipped them all soundly 
And sent them to bed.* 


26 Uncle Wiggily and the Shoe Lady 


‘‘ That's what happened," said the Shoe Lady. 

Well, er — excuse me — but, that is, do you 
think it just right to whip them ALL? " asked 
Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “ Might not at least 
one of them have been good? " 

“ Oh, bless your tall hat I " exclaimed the Shoe 
Lady, with a laugh. “ I don't really whip them, 
you know. That part of the verse is wrong. I 
only make-believe to whip them — pretend, you 
know, so as to make it as near like the book as 
I can." 

“ But I heard crying," said Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Yes, but it was only make-believe crying, 
just like the pretended whipping," laughed the 
Shoe Lady. “ I wouldn’t for the world hurt one 
of the children, even though I have so many I 
don't know what to do." 

Uncle Wiggily was glad to hear that, and he 
was just hopping on, when up came running a 
little boy. 

Oh, take me in! Take me in! " he cried. 
“ I want my make-believe whipping. I want 
to make-believe cry, have my broth, without any 
bread, and go to bed." 

“ Why, Toodles! ” exclaimed the Shoe Lady, 
looking at him in surprise. “ I did not know 
you were out. You stayed too late at your play. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Shoe Lady 27 


There are so many children here now I don't be- 
lieve there is room to get you in. After the chil- 
dren eat their supper they swell up, and the shoe 
house is hardly large enough for them,” she said 
to Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Oh, I must get in,” cried Toodles. “ I 
must ! ” 

“ Well, ril try,” said the Shoe Lady. She and 
Uncle Wiggily tried, but the shoe was so full 
of children that not another one could get in. 
They pushed and pulled and shoved and hauled, 
but poor Toodles could not get in. 

“ Oh, dear ! I don't know what to do,” said 
the lady, who lived in a shoe. “ I guess Toodles 
will have to sleep out in the woods to-night.” 

‘‘ No I Wait! I have it! ” cried Uncle Wig- 
gily. “ When my foot would not go in my new 
tight shoe the monkey put talcum powder in it 
and used a shoe-horn. I'll do that to Toodles.” 
And so he did. And when the little boy was 
sprinkled with sweet smelling talcum powder, 
and when the shiny, slippery shoe-horn was 
slipped into the top of the crowded shoe, in on 
that slid Toodles as nicely as you please, and 
everything was all right. There's always room 
for one more, even in a shoe, you know. 

“ Thank you. Uncle Wiggily,” said the Shoe 


28 Uncle Wiggily and the Shoe Lady 


Lady, and then she gave Toodles his make-be- 
lieve whipping, he made believe cry, he ate his 
real broth and went to his real bed. And that's 
where you must go if it's time. 

But if the butter doesn't slide off the slice of 
bread, and go coasting down the cake plate hill 
with a bun that ought to be sitting beside the cus- 
tard, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and 
Jack-be-Nimble, 



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CHAPTER IV 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACK-BE-NIMBLE 

‘‘ Uncle Wiggily ! Uncle Wiggily called 
Sammie Littletail, the little rabbit boy, one Sat- 
urday morning, as he hopped up to the hollow- 
stump bungalow, where the nice, old bunny 
uncle lived. “ Come on out and play. Uncle 
Wiggily. Please do ! 

‘‘ Oh, hop away, Sammie ! called Nurse Jane 
Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, 
looking out of the kitchen window. “ Here, 
take this cabbage jam tart and run away. Uncle 
Wiggily can’t bother to play with you to-day.” 

I haven’t any one else to play with,” said 
Sammie. Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the 
squirrels, are taking their nut-gnawing lesson, 
and Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the puppies, 
are taking their bone-gnawing lessons.” 

“ Haven’t you any lessons? ” asked Nurse 
Jane. 

No. I’ve done mine. I had to practice 
jumping a little. But there’s no school, as it’s 
29 


30 Uncle Wiggily and Jack-Be-Nimble 


Saturday, and I do want some one to play with. 
My sister Susie has gone off with Lulu and Alice 
Wibblewobble, the ducks, and anyhow I don’t 
want to play with girl animals. Won’t Uncle 
Wiggily come out? ” 

“ No, Sammie. Here, take this carrot cookie 
and hop along,” said Nurse Jane. 

“ Wait a minute,” spoke another voice, and 
Uncle Wiggily himself went out on the back 
stoop. “ What is it you want, Sammie? ” 

'' He wants you to come out and play with 
him! ” cried Nurse Jane. “ The idea! ” 

“ Oh, ril come,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. 
“ I haven’t much to do, and perhaps we may 
have an adventure together. Come on, Sammie, 
we’ll go off in the woods, and we’ll play.” 

So the old gentleman rabbit and his little 
bunny nephew hopped off in the woods together, 
and soon were having a fine time, scurrying in 
among the dried leaves, and hiding behind old 
logs and sturhps. 

“ I wonder if there is any new cabbage grow- 
ing around here? ” said Sammie, after a bit. 

I’m hungry.” 

“ It is too soon for cabbage yet,” answered 
Uncle Wiggily. “ It will not be Spring for 
several weeks. Nor are there any new carrots 


Uncle Wiggily and Jack-Be-Nimble 31 


to be had. But pretty soon we’ll pass a lollypop 
store, and you may have a lettuce flavored 
one.” 

“ That will be nice — thank you,” said Sammie. 

“ Did you do your jumping lesson to-day? ” 
asked the old gentleman rabbit, after a bit. 

“ Yes,” said Sammie. “ I practiced half an 
hour.” 

“ Let me see how well you can jump,” spoke 
the bunny uncle. “ I used to be a pretty good 
jumper when I was young.” 

So Sammie jumped from one stump, far over 
a log, to another. 

“ Fine! ” cried Uncle Wiggily. “ That’s bet- 
ter than I can do, but I’ll try.” 

He did try, and, though he could not leap as 
far as Sammie had done, Mr. Longears did very 
well. If it had not been for his rheumatism he 
could have done better. 

He and Sammie jumped about for some time, 
and all at once they were surprised to hear a 
voice saying: 

“ Oh, dear I I wish I could jump as far as 
that. But I don’t believe I shall ever be able to. 
Oh, dear ! Oh, dear I ” 

“ Ha ! That sounds like trouble,” said Uncle 
Wiggily. Who are you and where are you? ” 


32 Uncle Wiggily and Jack-Be-Nimble 


“ I’m Jack, and I’m behind this big stone,” 
was the answer, and out stepped a boy. 

“ Hal I thought at first it might be Jackie 
Bow Wow,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. 

“ No; I am another Jack,” said the boy. “ I’m 
one of Mother Goose’s friends.” 

“ Are you Jack Sprat? ” Sammie wanted to 
know, “ who could eat no fat? ” 

But still the boy did not look like that Jack. 

“ I’ll tell you who I am,” the boy said. “ I’m 
Jack-be-Nimble, Jack-be-Quick, Jack jump 
over the candlestick.” 

“ Oh, now I remember,” spoke Uncle Wig- 
gily. “ How do you do, Jack-be-Nimble? ” 

“ But the trouble is I cant do it,” went on 
Jack. 

“ Can’t do what? ” asked Sammie Littletail. 

“ I can’t be nimble and jump over the candle- 
stick,” was the answer. “ I’ve tried and tried. 
But it seems of no use. Every time I jump I 
either hit the candle, and put it out, or I come 
down ker-flunk! in it, and get my shoes all 
grease. Mother Goose says I ought to be 
ashamed of myself. If I can’t jump over the 
candlestick, I can’t be in her book, she says, and 
Oh, dear ! I don’t want to be put out of the nice 
book.” 


Uncle Wiggily and Jack-Be-Nimble 33 


“ That’s too bad,” said Uncle Wiggily. 
‘‘ Now, Jack, ril tell you what to do. You 
watch Sammie and me jump, and perhaps that 
will teach you how. Watch us. Come on, 
Sammie, we must jump some more to teach 
Jack.” 

So the old rabbit gentleman and the little rab- 
bit boy jumped about on the soft, dried leaves 
in the wood. Jack watched them, and then he 
tried. Of course, having only two legs, he could 
not leap as far as could the rabbits, with four. 
But still Jack did very well. 

“ Now, come here every day to the woods,” 
said Uncle Wiggily, “ and we will give you a 
jumping lesson. Don’t say anything to Mother 
Goose about it, and you will soon give her a nice 
surprise by jumping over the candlestick easily 
some day. I once took dancing lessons from a 
waltzing mouse lady without saying anything to 
Nurse Jane about it, and my I how surprised she 
was when I did the fox trot.” 

“ I’ll come,” promised Jack-be-Nimble. And 
he did. Every day for a week, he took jumping 
lessons secretly in the woods, of Uncle Wiggily 
and Sammie, until finally Jack was a very good 
jumper, indeed. Then one day Old Mother 
Goose said : 


34 Uncle Wiggily and Jack-Be-Nimble 


‘‘ Well, Jack, I fear it is of no use. You can’t 
jump over the candlestick, as you ought to do 
to be in my book, so you’ll have to go out. I’ll 
get the cow, who leaped over the moon, to jump 
for me.” 

‘‘ Oh, please give me one more chance ! ” 
begged Jack. “ Please! ” 

Mother Goose kindly did so, and lo ! and be- 
hold! when next he tried, Jack-be-Nimble 
jumped over the candlestick as easily as any- 
thing. Away over it he jumped and came down 
on the other side. 

“ Why, Jack! Where did you learn to jump 
so well? ” asked Mother Goose, in great sur- 
prise. 

“ Uncle Wiggily and Sammie taught me,” he 
answered. And ever after that nimble Jack had 
no trouble. 

And if the apple pie doesn’t go out skating 
with the jam tart, and forget to come in to sup- 
per, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and 
Tommie Tinker’s dog. 


CHAPTER V 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND TOMMIE TINKER’S DOG 

“ Uncle Wiggily, here’s a letter for you,” 
called Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat 
lady housekeeper, to the rabbit gentleman, one 
morning, as he sat in the easy chair in his hollow- 
stump bungalow. “ The postman bird just left 
it as he flew past.” 

“ A letter for me ! ” exclaimed the bunny 
uncle, as he opened and read it. That’s nice. 
It’s from Grandfather Goosey Gander. He 
wants me to come over and play checkers with 
him. He’s so lonesome.” 

“ But you can’t go! ” cried Nurse Jane, tying 
her tail up in a knot, for she was going to sweep 
and dust, and she did not want to step on her- 
self. ‘‘You can’t go, because you said your 
rheumatism hurt you so.” 

“ Oh, I guess I can manage to get over to see 
Grandpa by limping on the nice red, white and 
blue striped rheumatism crutch, which you so 
kindly gnawed for me out of a corn-stalk,” spoke 
35 


36 Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tinker’s Dog 


Uncle Wiggily. ‘‘ Til try, anyhow, for I haven’t 
seen Grandpa Goosey in nearly a week. I dare 
say I can get over there all right. It’s a nice 
day.” 

“ Well, I wish you wouldn’t go,” said Nurse 
Jane, slowly, making her whiskers dance up and 
down. “ I’m sure something will happen.” 

Oh, nonsensicalness! ” laughed Uncle Wig- 
gily, as he went out of the bungalow. Over the 
fields and through the woods he roamed, and he 
had to rest several times on his crutch, for the 
rheumatism hurt him more than he thought it 
would. 

“ But I’ll get there all right,” he said. No 
sooner had he spoken, however, than all at once 
his crutch slid on a piece of slippery-elm bark, 
and Uncle Wiggily fell down. He did not hurt 
himself much, for he sat down on a pile of soft, 
dried leaves. But when the bunny uncle arose, 
and tried to walk on his crutch, he could not, 
as it was cracked and splintered. 

“ If I lean my weight on it the crutch will 
break,” said Uncle Wiggily, sadly, “ and I can’t 
walk without leaning on it. “ Oh, dear I What 
shall I do? ” 

Then, as he stood there in the woods, he heard 
a voice calling: 


Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tinker’s Dog 37 


‘‘ Umbrellas to mend! Umbrellas to mend, 

If you’ve pans with holes in, for me you must 
send. 

I’ll fix them up, quick as a wink — or a winker; 

For I am a pot, pan and umbrella tinker.” 

Uncle Wiggily looked off among the trees, 
and, surely enough, along came a traveling 
tinker, with a box over his shoulder and a little 
fire in a tin pot in his hand. Beside him walked 
a little boy who had a little dog. 

“ Oh, daddy I Look at the rabbit gentleman 1 ” 
cried the little boy. 

“ I see him,” said the tinker. “ He is Uncle 
Wiggily Longears, if I am not mistaken. Are 
you not? ” he asked, politely. 

“ I am,” answered the bunny uncle. “ And I 
am in great trouble. I have splintered and 
cracked my crutch and I can’t limp along on it 
to get to Grandpa Goosey’s house.” 

‘‘ Oh, I can easily fix that for you,” said the 
kind tinker, and he did, fastening a strong piece 
of tin around the broken part of Uncle Wig- 
gily’s crutch so it was as good as ever. 

Then the rabbit gentleman thanked the nice 
tinker man and hopped on, and the tinker and 
his little boy, whose name was Tommie, and the 


38 Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tinker’s Dog 


little boy’s dog, whose name was Bow-Wow- 
Wow, went on their way, the tinker singing his 
funny song. 

Uncle Wiggily reached Grandpa Goosey’s 
house all right, and he and the goose gentleman 
had fun playing checkers. And when it was 
time for Uncle Wiggily to hop back to his hol- 
low-stump bungalow Grandpa Goosey gave 
him a fine, large bone, with nice meat on it. 

‘‘ Give that to Mrs. Bow Wow for her little 
puppy dog boys, Jackie and Peetie,” said the 
goose gentleman. 

I will, thank you,” said Uncle Wiggily. 

The rabbit gentleman was hopping along 
through the woods on his way home when, all 
at once, he heard some one crying. 

“ Ha! That sounds like trouble,” he said. 
“ I was in trouble a little while ago about my 
crutch and the tinker helped me. Now, I must 
try to help some one in my turn. That’s only 
fair.” 

Uncle Wiggily looked around the corner of 
a stump and saw the tinker’s little boy, Tommie, 
sitting on a log and crying very hard. 

“ Why, Tommie I What’s the matter? ” asked 
the bunny uncle. 

Oh, dear 1 Boo hoo 1 ” cried Tommie. “ My 


Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tinker’s Dog 39 


nice dog is lost, and I can’t find him. And I 
must have him, you know, or else I can’t be in 
Mother Goose’s book. My dog and I belong 
there, you see.” 

“ I see,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. But 
how did your dog get lost? ” 

“ Oh, I was helping my father mend some um- 
brellas for Old King Cole,” said Tommie, ‘‘ and, 
when we weren’t looking, my dog ran off in the 
woods. I guess he must be lost there, for he 
hasn’t come back. My father, Mr. Tinker, went 
to look for him, and so did I, but I hurt my toe 
and I can’t look any more ; and — Oh, dear ! Oh, 
dear! ” 

“ There, there 1 Don’t cry any more,” said the 
nice bunny uncle. ‘‘ I’ll go look for your pet 
dog for you. Just you wait here. Your father 
was kind to me, so I want to be kind to you.” 

Uncle Wiggily went off through the woods, 
looking here, there and everywhere and pretty 
soon he heard behind a tree some one saying: 

‘‘Bow! Wow! Wow!” 

“ Ha! Whose dog art thou? ” asked Uncle 
Wiggily, quickly. 

“ Little Tommie Tinker’s dog. Bow! Wow! 
Wow ! ” came the answer, and out from under 
a berry bush ran the lost dog, wagging his tail. 


40 Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tinker’s Dog 


Oh, Uncle Wiggily! ” he begged. “ Can 
you take me to Tommie? I’ve been looking 
everywhere for him, and just now I smelled the 
nice meat bone you carry and I ran out of the 
bush to see who had it. Oh, I’m so glad I found 
you ! ” 

“ And I’m glad, too,” said the bunny uncle. 

And Tommie will be glad when he sees you. 
Come alone, doggie. I’ll take you to him. It’s 
a good thing I had this bone, which you smelled, 
or I might never have found you.” 

Then Uncle Wiggily gave Little Tommie 
Tinker’s dog some meat from Grandpa Goosey 
Gander’s bone, and took the little dog to Tom- 
mie and Mr. Tinker, who had come back with- 
out having found Bow-Wow-Wow. You can 
just imagine how glad every one was that every- 
thing had come out all right, so Tommie could 
stay in the Mother Goose book, and the little 
dog was glad also. 

Then Uncle Wiggily hopped along home, 
Tommie Tinker went on his way, and in the 
next chapter, if our automobile doesn’t run off 
the sidewalk into a candy store, chasing after a 
lollypop. I’ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and 
Mary’s little lamb. 



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CHAPTER VI 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND MARY’s LAMB 

One day Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the 
muskrat lady, was looking around the hollow- 
stump bungalow, behind pictures, under the 
piano, in corners and everywhere. 

“ What is the matter? ” asked Uncle Wiggily 
Longears, the rabbit gentleman, “ have you lost 
something. Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy? '' 

“ No,” Nurse Jane answered. “ I was just 
looking to see how much house-cleaning I must 
do. It will soon be Spring, and the bungalow 
must be made nice and clean, ready for Sum- 
mer. There is quite a lot of dust behind the pic- 
tures and under the piano.” 

“ Bungalow-cleaning! ” said Uncle Wiggily, 
sort of sad and solemn like. ‘‘ I know what that 
means. No meals on time. No place to sit 
down, no place to hang your hat — nothing at 
all. I suppose I had better be out of the way 
when you turn my bungalow upside down to 
clean it.” 


41 


42 Uncle Wiggily and Mary’s Lamb 


“ I suppose you had,” agreed Nurse Jane. 
“ Still, there is no hurry. I won’t start cleaning 
until to-morrow, or next day. But if you are 
going out now you might bring me something 
from the store.” 

“ What? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 

A scrubbing brush and a cake of soap,” an- 
swered the muskrat lady. I’ll need them to 
clean the floors.” 

‘‘ You shall have them,” promised Uncle Wig- 
gily. Then off he started with his tall silk hat 
and his red, white and blue striped barber-pole 
rheumatism crutch that Nurse Jane had gnawed 
for him out of a corn-stalk, and which Tommie 
Tinker’s father had mended for him, as I told 
you in the story before this one. 

“ I wonder if I shall have any adventures to- 
day? ” thought the bunny uncle, as he hopped 
and skipped along through the woods. “ I 
haven’t had one since I found Tommie Tinker’s 
dog.” 

But Mr. Longears reached the store without 
anything having happened to him, and, buying 
the cake of soap and the scrubbing brush, back 
he started for his hollow-stump bungalow. 

“ Nurse Jane said there was no hurry,” spoke 
the rabbit gentleman to himself, but I want to 


Uncle Wiggily and Mary’s Lamb 43 


get the house-cleaning over with as soon as I 
can. So ril hurry back with the soap and 
brush.” 

All of a sudden, and just as Mr. Longears 
was wondering if he would have time to call on 
Nannie and Billie Wagtail, the goat children, 
he heard a rustling in the bushes, and a voice 
said: 

“ Oh, dear ! However did it happen? Oh, 
how too-bad it is! You’re nothing at all like 
Mother Goose’s book says you should be. Oh, 
whatever am I to do? ” 

Uncle Wiggily looked around the corner of a 
tree, and there he saw a little girl, and beside her 
stood a little lamb, as black as a coal, or a bar- 
rel of tar. I don’t know which is blacker. 

“ Ha I This looks like trouble,” whispered 
Uncle Wiggily. Then: “ That surely is Mary,” 
he said, out loud. 

‘‘ Yes, I’m Mary,” spoke the little girl, “ and 
I know you. Jack Horner told me about 
you, and how you helped him pull his thumb 
out of his plum pie. I wish you could help 
me.” 

“ What is the matter? ” asked Uncle Wig- 
gily. “ I’ll help you if I can.” 

“ It’s him,” said Mary, pointing to the little 


44 Uncle Wiggily and Mary’s Lamb 


baby sheep. “ You know how it goes in the 
book: 

‘ Mary had a little lamb, 

Its fleece was white as snow. 

And everywhere that Mary went, 

The lamb was sure to go.’ ” 

‘‘ Yes, I know that,” said Uncle Wiggily. 

But this can’t be your lamb. Instead of being 
white as snow, he’s black — as black as any 
crow.” 

'' That’s just the trouble ! ” said Mary, with 
tears in her eyes. Oh, Lambie ! How did you 
get your nice white coat so black? ” she asked. 
“ You can’t follow me to school that way; you 
know you can’t.” 

'' Ba-aa! No, I suppose I can’t,” spoke the 
lamb, sort of sad and lonesome like. I didn’t 
mean to do it, but I went past a place where 
some men were cleaning out a chimney and the 
black soot blew from it all over me. I’m as sorry 
about it as you are.” 

‘‘ It is too bad,” said Uncle Wiggily. “ But 
nothing is so bad that it might not be worse.” 

“ This will be worse before it is better,” said 
Mary. ‘‘ I suppose the only thing to do now is 


Uncle Wiggily and Mary's Lamb 45 


to take my lamb to the barber's, who shaves a 
pig, and makes a wig. The barber can cut off 
the top part of the lamb's fleecy wool and get 
down to the nice, white part. But if I do that 
I'll be late for school. And the lamb must fol- 
low me there, you see, or it won't be like the 
book. Oh, Lambkin! why did you do it? " 

“ I — I'm sorry," said Mary's little lamb. 
“ But, please, don't have my wool cut off. It's 
too cold this weather. I'd shiver." 

“ I must," said Mary. ‘‘ To make you white 
as snow, you know. I’ll have to have your wool 
cut." 

“ No I you won't have to do that 1 " cried Uncle 
Wiggily. “ I know something better than that. 
Soot is only black dirt. It will wash off with 
soap and water. And, see here! I have some 
soap for Nurse Jane’s bungalow-cleaning and 
a scrubbing brush. Come on, Mary. We’ll 
find some water and give the lamb's coat a good 
scrubbing with soap suds. We'll see what that 
will do." 

“ Oh, I’m afraid we'll never get him clean," 
sadly said Mary; “ but it is very good of you to 
think of it. Uncle Wiggily." 

They found a nice little brook, and leading 
the lamb to it. Uncle Wiggily rolled up his 


46 Uncle Wiggily and Mary’s Lamb 


sleeves and with the soap and scrubbing brush 
began to wash the black soot out of the fleecy 
wool of Mary’s little lamb. 

Away and away scrubbed the bunny uncle, 
making a great suddsy lather. He rubbed it 
well into the fluffy wool. Then, when the soap 
suds were washed out, why, Mary’s lamb’s fleece 
was as white as snow! just as it ought to be. 

‘‘ Oh, Uncle Wiggily! ” cried Mary. “ How 
good you are ! Now my little lamb can follow 
me to school, no matter if it is against the rule. 
Thank you ! ” 

Then away she ran, and the lamb followed 
after her, and Uncle Wiggily, pleased that he 
had done a kindness, took the rest of the soap 
and the scrubbing brush to Nurse Jane. 

And if the man painting our house doesn’t put 
red, green and purple stripes around it to make 
it look like a moving picture going to the circus. 
I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and Peter 
Piper. 


CHAPTER VII 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND PETER PIPER 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentle- 
man, was hopping along across a green field. 
The field was not very green, but was just be- 
ginning to show a little green grass and clover, 
for, as yet. Spring had not fully arrived. 

‘‘ But still I may find a few green things grow- 
ing that I can eat or take to Sammie and Susie 
Littletail, the bunny children,” thought Mr. 
Longears. So on and on he hopped. The sun 
was shining, it was not very cold, and Uncle 
Wiggily felt happy because his rheumatism did 
not pain him. 

“ And when Summer comes it will not hurt 
me at all,” he said. 

The rabbit gentleman was wondering whether 
or not he would have an adventure that day, 
when, all at once, he saw, climbing over the 
fence, a boy dressed in a green suit, wearing a 
red cap and with blue shoes on his feet. 

“ Ha ! He is a funny looking chap I ” thought 

47 


48 Uncle Wiggily and Peter Piper 


the bunny uncle. “ I think he must be one of 
Mother Goose’s friends. Fll ask him.” And he 
did. 

‘‘ Oh, how do you do, Uncle Wiggily? ” 
asked the queer boy. “ Yes, indeed. I’m one of 
the many children of Mother Goose, to whom 
you have been so kind. I’m Peter Piper.” 

“ Are you any relation to Tom-Tom, the 
Piper’s son? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Yes, I’m his cousin. But I had nothing to 
do with taking the pig. Tom-Tom did that him- 
self. But, if you please, I have a riddle for you 
to guess.” 

'‘A riddle? Come, that’s good! I like rid- 
dles. Tell it to me.” 

Then the queer boy stood up straight and re- 
cited this : 

‘‘ Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. 

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. 

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled 
peppers. 

Where is the peck of pickled peppers Peter 
Piper picked? ” 


Oh, my! ” cried Uncle Wiggily. “ That’s 


Uncle Wiggily and Peter Piper 49 


a hard one. Let me see now. ' If Peter Pepper 
pipped a pick of peckled Pipers ! ' ” 

‘‘ Oh, no ! You have it wrong,” said Peter, 
smiling. “Try once more. Say it after me: 
‘ Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pep- 
pers.’ ” 

Uncle Wiggily tried again: 

“ Pickled Peter pipped a pep of Piperd 
pikers ” 

“Oh, dear, no! Wrong again!” laughed 
Peter. “ Now, once more. Say the last part 
first and perhaps it will come easier to you.” 

So Uncle Wiggily said: 

“ Where is the pop of pickered Peters picker 
Piper pepped? ” 

“ I — Pm afraid you can’t say it,” said Peter, 
gently. 

“ I’m afraid so myself,” said Uncle Wiggily. 
“ I shan’t try again. It makes my tongue all 
twisted and hurts my funny bone. I give up. 
What’s the answer? Where are the peppers? ” 

“ Here they are ! ” exclaimed Peter, and from 
behind his back he held out a peck of pickled 
peppers. “ That’s the only kind you can pick 
this time of year,” he went on. “ I’m taking 
them to Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady. 
She mixes them with corn-meal and fries them.” 


50 Uncle Wiggily and Peter Piper 


“ ril go with you,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. “ I 
haven’t seen Alice and Lulu and Jimmie 
Wibblewobble in some time.” 

So the bunny uncle and Peter Piper picked 
their way across the field toward the duck lady’s 
house. More than once Uncle Wiggily tried to 
say the riddle, but his tongue grew more and 
more twisted until he was walking sideways in- 
stead of frontwards. So he gave it up. 

He and Peter Piper had not gone very far be- 
fore Peter’s shoe lace came loose and he stooped 
down behind a big stone to tie it — tie the lace, I 
mean, not the stone. And while he was doing 
this along came the bad old fox, who had not 
bothered Uncle Wiggily in some time. 

“ Ah, ha ! ” cried the fox, showing his teeth. 

This is the time I have you, Mr. Longears! I 
was just wondering what I would eat for din- 
ner, but now I know. It shall be you I ” 

Me? ” asked Uncle Wiggily, curious like 
and wondering. 

‘‘Yes, you. Get ready for dinner I My din- 
ner ! ” snarled the fox. 

Uncle Wiggily thought quickly. He did not 
want to be a dinner for the fox, so he said : 

“ Before you eat would you not like to guess 
a riddle? ” 


Uncle Wiggily and Peter Piper 51 


“ Yes/’ said the fox, I would. What is it? ” 

“ And do you promise not to eat me until you 
guess it? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 

“ I do,” said the fox. “ But that will not save 
you, for I can guess any riddle that ever was,” 
and he fluffed up his tail, proud like and saucy. 

“ Then guess this,” said Uncle Wiggily, and 
now he had no trouble saying Peter Piper picked 
the peck of pickled peppers. “ Where is the 
peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? ” 
suddenly asked Uncle Wiggily of the fox. The 
bad animal thought for a second and then he 
said: 

“ If Peter pickled pecked a pick of pipered 
pickles. A pick of Petered Pipers ” 

“ Oh, no ! ” laughed Uncle Wiggily. ‘‘ You’re 
a bit twisted. Try again.” The fox did so. 

“ If Tapper Peter pecked a pit of piddled 
poppers ” 

“ Worse than ever,” said the bunny uncle. “ I 
think you will not find it as easy as you thought. 
Once more, please, and try it a bit slower.” 

The fox growled, and said: 

“A pick of peppered Peters did peckle 

pickle Oh, I can’t guess your old riddle ! ” 

snarled the fox. I’m going to eat you anyhow ! 
What do I care about the peckled pickers? ” and 


52 Uncle Wiggily and Peter Piper 


he made a jump for Uncle Wiggily to grab the 
bunny uncle. 

‘'Eat him? You going to eat Uncle Wig- 
gily? Oh, no! No, you’re not!” cried Peter 
Piper, jumping out from behind the rock. 
“ Mother Goose doesn’t want Uncle Wiggily 
hurt. Be off with you ! ” 

And with that Peter threw a pickled pepper 
at the fox. It struck him on the nose, and made 
him sneeze and turn a somersault, and before he 
could get straightened out Uncle Wiggily and 
Peter Piper had run away to the duck house. 

So Mrs. Wibblewobble got the pickled pep- 
pers; that is, all but the one Peter threw at the 
fox, and Uncle Wiggily at last learned how to 
say the hard riddle-verse without tying himself 
in a knot. And if you can recite it, fast, with- 
out wrinkling your nose, you are doing well. 

And if the candlestick doesn’t try to beat the 
carpet, and get dust in the eyes of the potatoes 
when they dance in the frying pan. I’ll tell you 
next about Uncle Wiggily and the moon-man. 


CHAPTER VIII 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE MOON-MAN 

‘‘ Did you hear the news, Uncle Wiggily? ” 
asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat 
lady housekeeper, as she sat down one evening 
in the dining-room of the hollow-stump bunga- 
low, where the rabbit gentleman was eating his 
supper of lettuce salad, with carrot sauce 
sprinkled on. 

‘‘News! What news?” asked the bunny 
uncle, reaching for a slice of carrot bread. “ Is 
some one going to have a surprise party and in- 
vite us to dance? ” 

‘‘ That’s partly it,” Nurse Jane answered. 
‘‘ Nannie Wagtail, the little goat girl, was going 
to have a party, but she is ill, and the party will 
not be given.” 

“ Nannie ill? That’s too bad,” said Uncle 
Wiggily, kindly. “ I’ll go over to see her after 
I have my supper. She may need cheering up a 
bit. Yes, I’ll go see her.” 

So after he had finished eating Uncle Wiggily 
put on his tall silk hat that was like a piece of 
53 


54 Uncle Wiggily and the Moon-Man 


the stovepipe and away he went, over the fields 
and through the woods, to the house where the 
little goat girl lived with her brother Billie and 
her Uncle Butter, who posted circus pictures on 
barns and fences. 

It was getting dark, but Uncle Wiggily was 
not afraid, for he knew the moon would soon 
rise above the tree tops and make a good light. 

And on his way to Nannie^s the bunny uncle 
passed a candy store. 

“ I’ll just stop in and buy Nannie an ice cream 
cone,” said Uncle Wiggily. ‘‘ Winter is nearly 
over and ice cream cones are in season again. 
I’ll take two or three, for Billie might like one.” 

The bunny uncle bought a bag full of the 
ice cream cones, and he was walking on again, 
hoping that Nannie would not be ill long, when, 
all at once, there was a crash in the bushes be- 
side the rabbit gentleman as if some one had 
fallen down. 

My goodness me sakes alive and some apple 
dumplings! ” cried Uncle Wiggily, jumping to 
one side. “ Who it is? ” He hoped it would 
not prove to be the bad old fox. “ Who is it? ” 
he asked, for it was too dark to see. 

“ It is I — the moon-man,” was the answer. 
“ I hope I did not scare you? ” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Moon-Man 55 


‘‘ Well, you did, a little,’’ said Uncle Wiggily. 
“ But what are you doing down on the earth? 
You ought to be up in the sky.” 

“ I know I ought,” said the other, “ but you 
know how Mother Goose has it : 

The man in the moon came tumbling down. 
To inquire the way to Norwich. 

He went to the South, 

And burned his mouth. 

Eating some cold bean porridge.’ 

‘‘ That’s how it was,” said the moon-man. “ I 
had to come tumbling down, you see, for that’s 
the way it is in the book. But, oh, dear ! I am 
so sorry I burned my mouth ! How it hurts ! ” 

‘‘ Did you really burn your mouth, in the 
South, eating cold bean porridge? ” asked 
Uncle Wiggily. 

I did,” said the moon-man. “ Only it was 
hot when I ate it. It’s cold enough now, though. 
Oh, how I burn ! I wish you could help me.” 

‘‘ I can I ” cried Uncle Wiggily. “ See, I have 
here some cold ice cream cones. Eat one of 
them, and your mouth will stop burning.” 

“ Oh, thank you ! ” cried the moon-man, and, 
surely enough, when he had eaten the ice cream 


56 Uncle Wiggily and the Moon-Man 


cone, his mouth was as cool as a refrigerator, 
and he had no more pain. 

You are very kind,” said the moon-man to 
Uncle Wiggily. “ If ever I can do you a favor 
I will. But now I must jump back to my place 
in the moon.” 

The rabbit gentleman did not see how the 
moon-man was going to do any one any favors, 
if he had to jump away up in the moon, high 
above the earth. But still Uncle Wiggily was 
too polite to say so. 

“ Here I go ! Good-by ! ” cried the man, and, 
giving a big hop, up to the moon he jumped. If 
you look closely you can see his face there on 
moonlight nights. He is smiling. 

“ Good-by! ” called Uncle Wiggily, and on 
he went to the Wagtail goats’ house to see 
Nannie. She was very glad to have her bunny 
uncle call, and more pleased still when he gave 
her an ice cream cone, and also one to her 
brother Billie. 

Uncle Wiggily stayed for quite some time, 
talking to the goats, and Uncle Butter told a 
funny story about a circus picture of a dog, 
which was so natural that a cat ran away when 
she saw it. 

Well, ril be getting back to my bungalow,” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Moon-Man 57 


said Uncle Wiggily, after a bit. “ Nurse Jane 
will be worrying about me if I stay too late.” 

“ Oh, how dark it is! ” said Billie, looking out 
the door. “ Aren’t you afraid. Uncle Wig- 
gily? ” 

“ Oh, no,” answered the rabbit uncle. But, 
when the door of the goats’ house was shut, and 
the pleasant lamplight no longer streamed out, 
it was very black and dark indeed. “ I wish it 
were time for the lightning bugs,” thought Mr. 
Longears. “ With them brightly flashing I 
could easily see my way.” 

Uncle Wiggily went on as best he could, but 
pretty soon he bumped into a tree, and hurt his 
pink, twinkling nose. Next he stumbled against 
a big rock, and hurt his paw. 

“ Oh, dear! ” he cried. “ This is no fun! I 
wish it were light so I could see where I am 
going.” 

Then he tripped over a log and came down 
ker-plunk! hurting his rheumatism, and he felt 
very badly, indeed. 

Oh, I wish some one would help me find my 
way to my bungalow ! ” he cried. 

‘‘ I’ll help you,” said a kind voice, and then 
the woods were suddenly made almost as bright 
as day, for the moon rose over the trees, and 


58 Uncle Wiggily and the Moon-Man 


shone down, so Uncle Wiggily could see the 
path, and stumbled no more. 

“ How is that? ’’ asked the moon-man, beam- 
ing down on Uncle Wiggily. “ Do I make it 
light enough for you? ” 

Yes, indeed! Fine,” said the bunny uncle. 
‘‘ I can see all right now. Thank you.” 

So the moon-man, whose mouth no longer 
burned, thanks to the ice cream cone, shone 
brightly until Uncle Wiggily safely reached his 
bungalow. 

And, if the trolley ca/r doesn’t go roller-skat- 
ing with the apple pie and upset the goldfish, 
so they spill into the canary’s cage. I’ll tell you 
next about Uncle Wiggily and Humpty 
Dumpty. 


CHAPTER IX 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND HUMPTY DUMPTY 

‘‘ Uncle Wiggily, would you mind bringing 
me some glue when you come home from your 
walk this afternoon? ’’ asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy 
Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, as she 
saw the rabbit gentleman leaving his hollow- 
stump bungalow one day. 

Glue? ” asked Uncle Wiggily, curious like. 
‘‘ I hope you are not going to put it in my chair, 
so when I sit down I will stick fast, and not be 
able to get up again.’’ 

“Oh, no!” laughed Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, 
“ though if you keep on going out so often, the 
way you do, I’ll need a bit of sticky fly paper, or 
something like that, to keep you at home.” 

“Oh 1 I have to go off to have adventures 
now and then,” said the bunny uncle, smiling so 
that his nose twinkled like a moonbeam shining 
in the water. “ But I’ll bring you the glue all 
right, Nurse Jane. What is it you want to stick 
together? ” 


59 


6o Uncle Wiggily and Humpty Dumpty 


“ A broken teacup,” answered the muskrat 
lady. “ I knocked a breakfast teacup off the 
table, and it broke. But I can stick the pieces 
together with glue, and it will be almost as good 
as new.” 

“ Good! ” cried Uncle Wiggily. “ That’s the 
way to do it ! ” Then he set off over the fields 
and through the woods to get the glue. 

He found some in the doll doctor’s toy shop, 
where the monkey-doodle toy-mender used it to 
fasten together all the playthings the animal 
boys and girls broke. 

“ That’s just the glue for Nurse Jane’s cup,” 
said the doll doctor. “ It will mend anything.” 

“ That’s what we want,” said Uncle Wiggily. 

Well, the old gentleman rabbit was going 
along, hoping he would meet with an adventure 
before he reached his hollow-stump bungalow, 
when, all at once, he heard a sort of crowing 
noise and a clucking, and then a sad voice 
said: 

“ Oh, dear, I might have known it would hap- 
pen ! I should never have let you sit on top of 
the wall, Humpty. Now look what you’ve done 1 
Oh, what will my mother say? ” 

“ Ha 1 That sounds like Charlie Chick, the 
little rooster chap,” said Uncle Wiggily. “ I 


Uncle Wiggily and Humpty Dumpty 6i 


wonder what has happened to him, and who 
Humpty can be? I guess I’ll look and see.” 

The bunny uncle went on a little farther and, 
coming to a stone wall, he saw, on one side of it, 
Charlie Chick; and the little rooster chap’s tail 
feathers were all squeezed sideways and crooked, 
as though he were in great trouble, indeed. 

‘‘Why, Charlie!” cried Uncle Wiggily. 
“ What’s the matter? Is Arabella, your sister, 
lost? ” 

“Oh, no. Uncle Wiggily!” answered 
Charlie. “ But I had Humpty Dumpty with 
me, and he sat up on the wall, just as he did when 
he was out with Mother Goose. But he fell off 
and now he’s broken, and oh, dear! I fear he 
never will be himself again.” 

“ My! My! What’s all this? ” asked Uncle 
Wiggily. “ I never heard of Humpty Dumpty, 
or his fall from the wall. And why can’t he be 
himself again? If it’s anything that is broken 
I can mend it, for I have some glue to mend 
Nurse Jane’s broken cup, and I can mend 
Humpty Dumpty.” 

“ Oh, it’s very kind of you. I’m sure,” said 
Charlie, politely, “ but it can’t be done. You 
see Humpty Dumpty is an egg. My mother, 
Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, sent me to take him to Mrs. 


62 Uncle Wiggily and Humpty Dumpty 


Wibblewobble, the duck lady. But on the way 
I stopped here to rest and I let Humpty sit upon 
the wall.'’ 

“ Well, what happened then? " asked Uncle 
Wiggily, as Charlie stopped, to give a little crow, 
and flap his wings. 

“ It happened just as it tells about in the 
Mother Goose book," went on Charlie. “ This 
is the way it was : 

“ ' Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, 

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. 

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men. 

Cannot put Humpty together again.’ ’’ 

“ Why can’t they put him together again? ’’ 
asked Uncle Wiggily. ‘‘ Where is Humpty? 
Let me have a look at him. If his shell is only 
cracked I can mend it with glue. Where is he? ’’ 

“ On the other side of the stone wall," an- 
swered Charlie. “ He fell over or rolled back- 
ward, and he must be all broken up by now." 

“ Let us hope for the best," said the rabbit 
gentleman. “ He may be only cracked, Humpty 
Dumpty may be, and if the glue I have for 
Nurse Jane will mend a cracked cup, it will 
mend a cracked egg. I must have a look." 


Uncle Wiggily and Humpty Dumpty 63 


Up on top of the wall jumped the rabbit gen- 
tleman. Then he hopped down on the other 
side. He looked around for Humpty Dumpty. 

Uncle Wiggily saw some broken egg shells. 
Then he looked some more and rubbed his eyes. 

“ This is queer/’ he said. “ If the egg broke, 
the white and yellow inside ought to have run 
out on the ground. But I don’t see any. That 
must have been a hollow egg.” 

Just then the rabbit gentleman heard: 

“ Peep ! Peep ! Peepity-peep-cheep-cheep ! ” 

‘‘ My goodness me sakes alive and some corn- 
meal pudding ! ” cried the bunny uncle. “ Who 
is that? ” 

“ It is I, Humpty Dumpty,” was the answer, 
and out from under a bush ran a cute, little, 
fluffy, downy chicken. 

‘‘ Are you Humpty Dumpty? ” cried Uncle 
Wiggily. 

“ Of course,” peeped the little chicken. “ I 
was inside the eggshell all the while, just wait- 
ing to come out. And when Charlie set me on 
the wall I rolled off, cracked my shell and here 
I am. I popped out! 

“ Of course, it isn’t just like in the book,” said 
the baby chick, “ but it’s better. For though I 
sat on the wall and had a great fall, I don’t need 


64 Uncle Wiggily and Humpty Dumpty 


all the king’s horses and all the king’s men to 
put Humpty together again.” 

“ No, and you don’t need any of my glue,” 
said Uncle Wiggily, with a laugh. “ There is 
no use mending a broken eggshell out of which 
has come a chicken. Oh, I say, Charlie ! ” cried 
the bunny uncle. “ Fly over the wall. It’s all 
right. Humpty is here, only he is different from 
what you thought you would find him. Here 
he is; a new, little chicken brother for you.” 

And wasn’t Charlie surprised? Well, I guess 
yes ! But he loved Humpty Dumpty very much 
and Humpty loved him. So this time, once 
more, everything came out all right, just as 
Mother Goose would have it. 

And if the collar button doesn’t go to a neck- 
tie party all by itself and leave the comb to play 
tag with the brush. I’ll tell you next about Uncle 
Wiggily and Old King Cole. 






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CHAPTER X 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND OLD KING COLE 

‘‘ Well, Uncle Wiggily Longears, you are 
getting very stylish, indeed, it seems,” spoke 
Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady 
housekeeper, after the postman bird had paid 
a visit to the hollow-stump bungalow one day, 
and had left a letter. Very stylish. Look 
here!” 

‘‘ Why, what’s the matter? ” asked the bunny 
uncle. “ Do you call it stylish just to get a let- 
ter? You often get them, and so do I. This is, 
very likely, from Grandpa Goosey Gander, ask- 
ing me to come over and play checkers with 
him.” 

“ Indeed, it is nothing of the sort 1 ” exclaimed 
the muskrat lady. “ That is, if you will excuse 
me for saying so. This is a very stylish letter, in- 
deed. It comes from the king’s palace, as you 
can see, by the royal stamp on it in gold and red 
and blue and green. I wonder what it can be? ” 

“ I’ll open it and find out; then I’ll tell you,” 

65 


66 Uncle Wiggily and Old King Cole 


said Uncle Wiggily, politely. I guess it's from 
the gold and silver palace of the king, who was 
in the kitchen counting out his money, while 
the queen was in the parlor eating bread and 
honey. The maid was in the garden hanging 
out the clothes, when along came a blackbird 
and nipped off her nose. 

“ I helped the king and queen and the maid, 
you know, and perhaps they are in more trouble, 
and need more help." 

But when the bunny uncle opened the letter 
he found it was not from that king, but another 
— this letter was from Old King Cole. 

“ Read me the letter," said Nurse Jane. 

So Uncle Wiggily read: 

“ Old King Cole is a merry old soul, 

A merry old soul is he. 

He called for his pipe, he called for his bowl, 
And he called for his fiddlers three. 

“ Every fiddler had a fine fiddle, 

A very fine fiddle had he. 

And Uncle Wiggily is asked to come 
To list to the music with me." 

At the bottom of the letter was Old King 
Cole’s name, in big letters. 


Uncle Wiggily and Old King Cole 67 


“Well, well!’’ exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. 
“ I don’t understand. What’s it all about, I won- 
der? ” 

“ Don’t you see! ” cried Nurse Jane. “ This 
is a royal invitation from Old King Cole for you 
to come to his palace, and listen to his fiddlers 
three making music on their fine fiddles. You 
must get ready to go. Put on your best suit and 
look nice.” 

“ Must I really go? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 
“ I had much rather stay here with you. I 
don’t know Old King Cole at all well. Must I 
go?” 

“ Of course you must go! ” Nurse Jane said. 
“ Whenever a king invites you, why, you have 
to go, even if you must stand on your head. I’ll 
help you get ready.” 

“ Very well,” Uncle Wiggily said. “ But I 
had much rather stay home with my slippers on, 
eating carrot sandwiches. I know it will be too 
fine and grand for me up at the king’s palace. 
I’ll be sure to get my napkin on backward, or 
tickle some one with the wrong fork. But if I 
must go, I must. I wonder how he came to in- 
vite me? ” 

“ Oh, I guess he heard how kind you were to 
the king who was in the kitchen, counting out 


68 Uncle Wiggily and Old King Cole 


his money, and how you dug it up for him when 
it rolled under the floor,’' said Nurse Jane. 

So she helped Uncle Wiggily get ready, shav- 
ing the back of his neck for him, where he 
couldn’t himself reach with his razor. And she 
tied his tie for him, and saw that he was all 
scrumptious like, and proper. 

Finally the rabbit gentleman set off for the 
palace of the king. He was about halfway 
there when he heard some little squeaking voices 
down beside the woodland path, and there he 
saw Jollie and Jillie Longtail, the mouse chil- 
dren, and their cousin, Squeaky-Eeky. 

“ Where are you going. Uncle Wiggily? ” 
asked Jollie, the boy mouse. 

“ To Old King Cole’s to hear some fiddle 
music,” answered Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Oh, do please take us with you ! ” begged 
Jillie. “ We just love fiddle music and we can’t 
ever go to hear any.” 

“ Why? ” asked the bunny uncle. 

“ Because,” explained Squeaky-Eeky, the 
little cousin mouse. “ You know what it says 
in Mother Goose. 

‘‘ ‘ Hi-Diddle-Diddle. The cat’s in the fid- 
dle.’ Now we couldn’t go to hear music when 
a cat was in the fiddle, could we? ” 


Uncle Wiggily and Old King Cole 69 


“ Of course not,” answered Uncle Wiggily. 
‘‘ I never thought of that. Cats and mice don’t 
go well together. But how can I take you to 
King Cole? He may not like mice.” 

“ Put us in your pockets,” said Jillie. “ We 
are not very big, and we can easily hide when 
you go in the palace. No one will see us in your 
pockets.” 

Well, Uncle Wiggily put them in — Jollie, 
Jillie and Squeaky-Eeky Longtail. But the 
rabbit gentleman was afraid lest the king might 
not like it. However, let us see what happened, 
as they say in story books. 

“ Glad to see you. Uncle Wiggily ! ” cried Old 
King Cole, as the bunny uncle came in the 
grand palace. “ Make yourself right at home ! ” 
and the king clapped his hands. Then some one 
sang: 

“ Old King Cole is a merry old soul, 

A merry old soul is he. 

He called for his pipe. 

He called for his bowl. 

And he called for his fiddlers three.” 

In came the fiddlers, playing tweedle-dweele- 
dee, making nice music, until, all at once: 


70 Uncle Wiggily and Old King Cole 


“ Snap I Snap ! Snap ! ” went something. 
“ Snap!” 

“ My goodness me sakes alive and some 
orange lemonade!’’ cried Uncle Wiggily. 

What was that? ” 

“ Our fiddle strings have broken! ” cried one 
of the fiddlers. ‘‘ Now we can make no more 
music until we have new strings.” 

“ Oh, dear ! ” cried King Cole. “ That’s too 
bad. I must have music from my fiddlers three, 
or from some one, or Mother Goose won’t like 
it. How can I get squeaky fiddle music for 
Uncle Wiggily? How can I?” 

Just then Jollie Longtail popped his head out 
from Uncle Wiggily’s pocket. 

“ If you please. Old King Cole,” he said, 
“ Jillie, Squeaky-Eeky and I, with our squeaky 
voices, will make music for you if you like.” 

“ I do like,” said the king. Make some 
music, if you please! ” 

So the mice, who have very squeaky voices, 
sang nice music, almost like the fiddles, and 
Old King Cole was a more merry soul than 
ever. 

“ I’m glad you came. Uncle Wiggily,” he 
said. And I’m glad you brought the nice 
Longtail mice children with you. Give them 


Uncle Wiggily and Old King Cole 71 


all some cheese! ” And he laughed most jolly- 
jilly like. 

So the mice sang for the king until the fiddlers’ 
fiddle strings were fixed, and every one had a 
good time and plenty to eat. 

And if the jam tart doesn’t get inside the 
huckleberry pie, where the egg beater can’t find 
it to dance with. I’ll tell you next about Uncle 
Wiggily and Peter-Peter. 


CHAPTER XI 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND PETER-PETER 

“ Uncle Wiggily, don't you think you’d bet- 
ter take an umbrella with you? ” asked Nurse 
Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady house- 
keeper, as the rabbit gentleman, Mr. Longears, 
started out from his hollow-stump bungalow one 
morning. 

‘‘ An umbrella. Nurse Jane? Why should I 
take one with me? I have my red, white and 
blue striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, that 
you gnawed for me out of a corn-stalk.” 

“ That wouldn’t be much good in a rain 
storm,” said the muskrat lady, with a laugh. 
“ It wouldn’t keep off many of the drops.” 

No, I s’pose not,” said the bunny uncle, sort 
of rubbing his pink, twinkling nose, thoughtful 
like, with the brim of his tall silk hat. “ So you 
think it is going to rain, do you? ” 

“ Or snow,” said the muskrat lady, looking 
to see if the hair ribbon had come off the end 
of her tail, but it had not. I’m glad to say. 

72 


Uncle Wiggily and Peter-Peter 73 


‘‘ Well, I guess Fll be back before it storms,” 
went on Uncle Wiggily. “ Pm only going over 
to Grandfather Goosey Gander's pen house to 
see if he wants to play checkers with grains of 
corn. I won’t be very long,” and with that Uncle 
Wiggily hopped away. 

Over the fields and through the woods hopped 
the bunny uncle to the house, or pen, of the old 
gentleman goose. Uncle Wiggily was thinking 
what a nice visit he would have when, all of a 
sudden, he heard from behind a scratchy briar 
bush a sad voice saying: 

“Oh, dear! They’re all spilled! I’ll never 
be able to pick them up ; never ! There are too 
many of them ! Oh, dear ! ” 

“Ha! That is funny talk. It sounds as 
though some one were in trouble,” said Uncle 
Wiggily to himself. “ I wonder if I can help 
them? I’ll just take a peek first, for it might 
be the skillery-scalery alligator, with humps on 
his tail, or the bad fox or wolf, and they would 
help themselves to catch me rather than have me 
help them. I’ll take a peek first.” 

So Uncle Wiggily peeked out and there, on 
the other side of the bush he saw a little man, 
bending down and picking something up off the 
ground. 


74 Uncle Wiggily and Peter-Peter 


Now, as a rule, the bunny uncle didn’t like 
men, for most of them were hunters, with dogs 
and bang-bang guns, who came after the animal 
people. But this man was so little, and so kind- 
looking and, withal, Uncle Wiggily could see 
he had no gun, so Mr. Longears knew it would 
be all right. 

‘‘ Excuse me,” said Uncle Wiggily, speaking 
a language that animals and little men can un- 
derstand. ‘‘ But can I help you? ” 

“ Oh, hello. Uncle Wiggily,” exclaimed the 
small chap. “ Why, maybe you can help me. 
You see, I am Peter-Peter, and ” 

‘‘ What, not Peter-Peter, the Pumpkin- 
Eater? ” asked the rabbit gentleman, surprised 
like. 

'' The very same,” was the answer. “ Pm that 
Peter-Peter.” 

Then you must be a friend of Mother 
Goose,” said the bunny uncle, smiling down one 
side of his pink twinkling nose. 

‘‘ I am,” answered Peter-Peter. 

“ Then I am more than ever anxious to help 
you,” spoke Mr. Longears. “ I always help the 
friends of Mother Goose. What is the 
trouble? ” 

I have spilled all my pumpkin seeds,” was 


Uncle Wiggily and Peter-Peter 75 


the answer of Peter-Peter. You see I was 
scooping out my pumpkin shell, making it hol- 
low to keep my wife in, as it says in the Mother 
Goose book. When I had the seeds all scooped 
out my wife said it would be a good thing to take 
them over to Mrs. Bushytail, the squirrel lady, 
as she and her two boys, Johnnie and Billie, 
could eat them.” 

“ I guess they would be glad to get them,” said 
Uncle Wiggily. “ In fact, I like roasted pump- 
kin seeds myself.” 

‘‘ But the trouble is,” said Peter-Peter, “ that 
when I had put the seeds in a bag, and was on 
my way to the Bushytail home with them, I came 
through these woods. The prickly briar bush 
caught my bag, tore holes in it, and out fell the 
pumpkin seeds. They are scattered all over the 
ground here, and, oh, dear! I’ll never be able 
to pick them up.” 

Oh, yes, you will,” said Uncle Wiggily, with 
a jolly laugh. “ I’ll help you, and I’ll get my 
friends, Dickie and Nellie Chip-Chip, the spar- 
rows, to help. They are great at picking up 
seeds.” 

So Uncle Wiggily whistled for Dickie and 
Nellie Chip-Chip, and when the sparrow boy 
and girl came, with their sharp bills, they soon 


76 Uncle Wiggily and Peter-Peter 


picked up most of the pumpkin seeds; Uncle 
Wiggily and Peter-Peter helping, of course. 

And when they were all picked up Uncle 
Wiggily pasted some postage stamps over the 
holes in Peter-Peter’s bag, so it was as good as 
ever. Then the little man started off with it over 
his shoulder to the Bushytail squirrel house. 

“ Thank you, very much. Uncle Wiggily,” 
said Peter-Peter. “ And you, too, Dickie and 
Nellie. If ever I can do you a favor I will.” 

So he went on, and, when Dickie and Nellie 
had flown home. Uncle Wiggily hopped along 
to Grandpa Goosey Gander’s house. There the 
old rabbit gentleman had a nice time playing 
checkers with grains of corn, but on his way 
home, when he was in the middle of the woods, 
all of a sudden it began to rain very hard. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” cried the bunny uncle. “ Nurse 
Jane was right. It is raining, and I have no 
umbrella I I will get all wet, and my rheumatism 
will be worse than ever. Oh, dear ! I wish I had 
some place to go in! ” 

And just then Uncle Wiggily heard a voice 
singing. 

“ Peter-Peter, Pumpkin Eater, 

Had a wife and could not keep her. 


Uncle Wiggily and Peter-Peter 77 


He put her in a pumpkin shell, 

And there he kept her very well.” 

Uncle Wiggily looked through the bushes, 
and there he saw a cute little house, made from 
a pumpkin, with a hollowed-out corn-cob for a 
chimney. And in the door of the house stood 
the little man, Peter-Peter himself. 

‘‘ Hello, Uncle Wiggily! ” called Peter-Peter. 

Come in out of the rain.” 

“ Is there room in there with you and your 
wife? ” asked the bunny uncle. 

Plenty of room,” answered Peter-Peter. 

This is an extra big Thanksgiving pumpkin. 
Come in I ” 

In went Uncle Wiggily out of the rain, and 
he stayed in Peter-Peter’s pumpkin-shell house 
until the storm was over, and he could go home 
without getting wet. So you see it was a good 
thing Uncle Wiggily helped Peter-Peter pick 
up the pumpkin seeds. 

And if the rain-drop doesn’t fall down-stairs 
and splash all over the pancake turner when it 
goes out to shovel the snow. I’ll tell you next 
about Uncle Wiggily and the butcher. 


CHAPTER XII 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BUTCHER 

It was raining in animal land, where Uncle 
Wiggily Longears, the nice rabbit gentleman, 
lived. It had been raining for several days; in 
fact, ever since the bunny uncle had helped 
Peter-Peter pick up the pumpkin seeds. 

Uncle Wiggily had been caught out in the 
rain then, and had gone in the pumpkin shell, 
where Peter-Peter kept his wife very well. That 
rain was only a shower, which was soon over, 
but the storm began again and had lasted ever 
since. It was very wet in animal land. 

“ My ! ” exclaimed Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, 
the muskrat lady housekeeper. “ It it doesn’t 
stop soon I’ll never get the clothes dry.” 

“ Worse than that,” said Uncle Wiggily. ‘‘ If 
it doesn’t stop soon there will be a flood, and our 
hollow-stump bungalow will be full of water. 
In fact, I think there is a little water in it now.” 

Well, it kept on raining, and there was a flood, 
so much so that Uncle Wiggily’s cellar was full 

78 


Uncle Wiggily and the Butcher 79 


of water, almost up to the floor, and all about, 
outside the hollow-stump bungalow, there were 
little lakes and puddles and rivers of rain water 
in the woods. 

“ Will it ever stop raining? ” asked Nurse 
Jane, as she stood at the window, looking out. 
“ If it doesn’t, I don’t know what we shall do. I 
need some things from the store.” 

“ I’ll get them for you,” said Uncle Wiggily, 
kindly. 

“ But how can you, in all this rain? ” 

“ Oh, very easily,” answered the bunny uncle, 
twinkling his pink nose to make himself bright 
and cheerful like. “ I’ll put on my rubber boots, 
my raincoat, take an umbrella and go to the 
store.” 

“ Well, I’m sure it’s very brave of you to go 
out in this storm,” said Nurse Jane, ‘‘ and I hope 
your rheumatism doesn’t catch cold. But we 
need some bread, sugar, salt and other things.” 

‘‘ I’ll get them,” said Uncle Wiggily, and ofl 
he started through the storm, well wrapped up 
so he would get no wetter than could be helped. 

The rabbit uncle finally got to the store, and 
the monkey-doodle gentleman who kept it put 
in a basket the things Nurse Jane wanted. 

He wrapped them in heavy paper, putting 


8o Uncle Wiggily and the Butcher 


some oyer the top of the basket so in case Uncle 
Wiggily ’s umbrella blew wrong side out the 
groceries would not get wet. 

“ Well, I guess everything is going to be all 
right,’' thought Uncle Wiggily to himself, as he 
hopped along through the rain on his way back 
to the hollow-stump bungalow. “ I don’t believe 
I’m even going to have an adventure (except 
now and then splashing into a puddle) for all 
my coming out in the storm. And I haven’t had 
an adventure in some time. I really wish some- 
thing would happen ! ” 

Uncle Wiggily had no sooner thought this 
than, all of a sudden, something did happen. 
He slipped into a big puddle with his rubber 
boots. The water came nearly to the top of them, 
but that did not so much matter as did something 
else. For when the bunny uncle tried to pull 
his feet up out of the puddle he couldn’t do it. 
No, sir, he could no more pull his feet up than 
you could get loose from sticky fly paper in case 
you happened to sit down in it, which, I hope, 
you never do; though our cat did once. And 
such a time ! 

“ My! This is quite too bad! ” cried Uncle 
Wiggily. “ I wonder what could have hap- 
pened? My feet are caught fast!” He 


Uncle Wiggily and the Butcher 8i 


squirmed about a bit with his feet in the rubber 
boots. Then he said: 

“ I know what has happened. My feet are 
held tight in the crooked, twisted old root of a 
tree that is down under the puddle. I’m caught 
as badly as if I were in a trap. Oh, dear! This 
is an adventure, all right, but not the kind I like. 
I wonder how I can get loose? ” 

And well might the bunny uncle wonder. His 
feet were caught fast in the root, away down 
under water and he could not reach down with 
his paws to loosen them, for he had his umbrella 
in one paw and the basket of groceries on the 
other, for there was water all around him. 

“ Oh, dear I ” cried Uncle Wiggily. “ I s’pose 
I could pull my feet out of the rubber boots and 
just leave them caught in the puddle, but if I 
did that I’d have to go home bare-pawed, and 
I’d catch my rheumatism worse than ever. Oh, 
dear! What shall I do? ” 

Just then, through the woods Uncle Wiggily 
heard the sound of a drum. “ Dub-dub ! Dub- 
bity-dubbity-dub ! ” 

“ Ha ! I wonder if that can be Sammie Little- 
tail, the bunny boy, coming along with his 
Christmas drum? If it is he can help me,” said 
Mr. Longears. 


82 Uncle Wiggily and the Butcher 


Uncle Wiggily, still caught fast, looked 
through the trees, and he saw some one sailing 
along in a washtub. And it was the butcher 
man, in his white apron and cap, with a big 
knife in his hand, who was drumming, with the 
knife handle, on the sides of the tub. And the 
butcher sang this song: 

“ Rub-a-dub-dub ! Three men in a tub ; 

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker ; 

They all jumped over a hard baked potato.'’ 

“ Why, that’s in Mother Goose! ” cried Uncle 
Wiggily, joyful like. “ This butcher must be 
a friend of hers. I wonder if he could help 
me.” 

Just then the butcher saw Uncle Wiggily 
caught fast in the puddle, and, stopping his 
washtub ship, he asked: 

“ Are you in trouble? ” 

Trouble? I should say I was! ” cried the 
bunny uncle. “ My feet are caught fast in a 
tree root down under the water, and I can’t 
get loose. Can you help me? ” 

“ I can and will,” replied the butcher. Then, 
with his long, sharp knife, he reached down un- 
der the puddle and cut the tree root that was 


Uncle Wiggily and the Butcher 83 


holding Uncle Wiggily’s feet fast, taking care 
not to cut the bunny uncle’s rubber boots. 

“ There you are ! ” cried the butcher. “ Now 
you’re loose.” 

“ Oh, thank you so much,” said Uncle Wig- 
gily, hopping out of the puddle. “ But, excuse 
me, I thought there were three of you rub-a-dub- 
dub men in a tub. You are only one.” 

“ Well, there were three of us,” said the 
butcher. But since Mother Goose wrote that 
verse about us, after we jumped out of the baked 
potato, we grew so large that three of us had hard 
work to fit in one tub. So now we each have a 
tub to ourselves. Now I must sail on. The 
baker and candlestick maker and I are having a 
tub-boat-race. I hope I win. Good-by ! ” 

And on he sailed in his tub, while Uncle Wig- 
gily, his feet no longer caught fast, went safely 
on to his hollow-stump bungalow through the 
rain with the groceries. 

So the bunny uncle was saved by the butcher, 
you see, and, if the gas lamp doesn’t go down 
cellar in the dark and stumble over the fire shovel 
when it’s playing in the ashes. I’ll tell you next 
about Uncle Wiggily and the baker. 


CHAPTER XIII 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BAKER 

It was still raining in Woodland, where the 
animal folk lived. All around the hollow-stump 
bungalow, where Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the 
muskrat lady, kept house for Uncle Wiggily 
Longears, the rabbit gentleman, there were pud- 
dles of water ; little lakes and rivers, too. 

I think it is getting colder,” said Uncle Wig- 
gily, as he came in from having been up to the 
Orange Mountain, to get a dozen of lemons so 
Nurse Jane could bake a cherry pie. 

“ If it gets colder, perhaps it will stop rain- 
ing,” Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy remarked, “ and good- 
ness knows we have had enough of water.” 

“ Yes, a little snow for a change would seem 
nice,” spoke the bunny uncle, looking out of the 
window at the rain drops still splashing down. 

“ Was it raining on the Orange Mountain? ” 
Nurse Jane wanted to know. 

“ Yes, just as hard as it is down here in the 

84 


Uncle Wiggily and the Baker 85 


valley. But the water runs off the sides of the 
mountain, so there are not so many puddles to 
step in, as I stepped in one the other day, and got 
my foot caught in a tree root, when the butcher, 
in his rub-a-dub-dub tub, cut me loose.” 

“ That was quite an adventure,” said Nurse 
Jane. “ You haven’t seen the other friends of 
Mother Goose — the baker and the candlestick 
maker — have you? ” 

“ No,” Uncle Wiggily answered. “ But I un- 
derstand that the butcher’s two friends, the baker 
and the candlestick maker, are having a race 
with him, each one in a tub. They may sail 
along any day now. I guess I’ll go out and look 
for them.” 

“ What ! In all this rain? ” cried Nurse Jane, 
in surprise. “ You’ll catch cold in your rheu- 
matism, I’m sure.” 

“ Oh, no. I’ll wrap up well in my rubber coat, 
and put on my rubber boots as I did before,” said 
the bunny uncle, making his nose twinkle like 
a gold tooth in the wax doll. 

Off started the old rabbit gentleman, carrying 
a big umbrella so that too many rain-drops 
would not get on his tall silk hat. He walked 
along through the woods, down from the trees 
of which the rain-drops dripped. There were 


86 


Uncle Wiggily and the Baker 


many puddles, but Uncle Wiggily kept as much 
out of them as he could. 

“ It is getting quite some colder,” he said to 
himself, as he put one paw in his pocket to warm 
it — warm his paw, I mean, not his pocket, for 
that was warm already. “ I wouldn’t be sur- 
prised to see it snow.” 

And, in a little while, a few flakes of snow did 
begin to fall, dodging their way in between the 
rain-drops, and sort of playing tag with one an- 
other. 

“ How pretty the flakes look,” said Uncle 
Wiggily, coming to a stop to watch them. “ I 
think I’ll sit down a minute and look at them.” 
He found a fallen log, which, being under a 
Christmas tree, was not as wet as it might other- 
wise have been, and down Uncle Wiggily sat on 
that. 

More snowflakes fell, and they looked so 
pretty that Uncle Wiggily stayed longer than he 
meant to, sitting on the log. It kept on getting 
colder and colder, and finally the bunny uncle 
said: 

Well, I mustn’t sit here any longer. I’ll get 
up and go back to my nice, warm, cozy hollow- 
stump bungalow. Yes, I’ll get up and ” 

But Uncle Wiggily did not get up. He 


Uncle Wiggily and the Baker 87 


couldn’t! He had frozen fast to the log, which 
had some water on it. The cold air had made 
the water freeze, and Uncle Wiggily was held 
as fast there as if he had sat down in sticky fly 
paper — even more tightly, I believe. 

“Oh, dear!” he cried. “This is quite too 
bad! In fact, it is terrible. What shall I 
do!” 

He tried to get up, but he could not, and he 
did not want to take off his rubber coat, and so 
free himself, for fear he might catch cold with- 
out his coat. 

“ Oh, dear ! I don’t know what to do ! ” cried 
Uncle Wiggily. “ Help! Help! Will no one 
help me to get loose? ” 

Then, through the woods he suddenly heard a 
rub-a-dub-dub drumming sound. 

“ Ha ! I wonder if that can be my friend, the 
butcher? ” thought the bunny uncle. But when 
he looked he saw a baker coming along, dressed 
in a spotless white apron and cap. The baker 
had a loaf of bread in his hand, and with a large 
spoon he was pushing himself along in his tub 
through the puddles of water, which had not yet 
solidly frozen over, though there were chunks of 
ice in them. And the baker was singing : 


88 


Uncle Wiggily and the Baker 


“ Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub ; 

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker ; 

But I am the one with the hot baked potato.” 

Then the baker, seeing Uncle Wiggily sitting 
on the log, called to the bunny uncle as he 
stopped his tub boat : 

“ Would you like to buy a loaf of bread? ” 
asked the baker. 

Well, yes, I might, for I heard Nurse Jane 
say we needed some,” answered the bunny uncle. 

‘‘ Then please come and get it,” said the baker. 

For I am riding a boat-tub race with the 
butcher and the candlestick maker, and I don't 
want to stop. They might get in ahead of me. 
You see, we are doing a little different from what 
it says in the Mother Goose book,” went on the 
baker, shaking some rain-drops off his white cap. 

We each have a tub to ourselves.” 

I see,” said Uncle Wiggily. “ I heard about 
it. In fact, I met the butcher sailing along in 
his tub the other day.” 

“ Oh, did you ? Then I must hurry,” cried the 
baker, “ or he will win the race. Come and get 
your loaf of bread and Fll paddle along.” 

“ I can’t come and get it,” said Uncle Wiggily. 

I am sorry, but I really can’t.” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Baker 89 


Why not? ’’ asked the baker. 

“ Because I am frozen fast to this log,” said 
the bunny uncle, “ and I really can’t get up, 
much as I would like to. I was calling for help, 

and, when you came along, I hoped ” 

Ha I Say no more ! ” cried the baker, in a 
jolly voice. “ Of course Fll help you. Never 
mind about the race. Fll get you loose! ” 

“ How? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Fll show you I ” cried the baker. He stopped 
his tub, which had started off by itself, put on 
his rubbers, and stepped out into a little puddle. 
In his hands he carried the hot loaf of bread, and 
the hot baked potato. Putting these down on 
the log, one on each side of Uncle Wiggily, the 
heat of them soon melted the ice, and the rabbit 
gentleman was unfrozen, and could get up and 
go on his way as well as ever. 

“ Oh, thank you I ” he called to the baker. 

Thank you I” 

You are welcome,” was the answer, “ and 
take the hot bread and potato with you,” and 
with that the baker jumped back in his tub and 
went on sailing, hoping to catch up to the 
butcher. 

So Uncle Wiggily went to his hollow-stump 
bungalow, not being frozen any more, and all 


90 


Uncle Wiggily and the Baker 


was well. And if the soft boiled egg doesn’t go 
sliding on the ice and fall down so it breaks all 
to pieces and has to be put in a pudding, I’ll tell 
you next about Uncle Wiggily and the candle- 
stick maker. 


CHAPTER XIV 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CANDLESTICK MAKER 

After supper, one night, Uncle Wiggily 
Longears, the rabbit gentleman, put on his tall 
silk hat, his fur-lined overcoat, and, taking his 
red, white and blue striped barber-pole rheuma- 
tism crutch down off the piano, he started for 
the door. 

What! You are not going out to-night, are 
you?’' asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the 
muskrat lady housekeeper, in surprise. 

“ Why, yes, for a little while,” answered the 
bunny uncle. “ It has stopped raining, you 
know, and the ground has dried up. It is cold, 
but I have my fur coat, so I shall be nice and 
warm.” 

“ Where are you going? ” asked Nurse Jane. 

“ To call on Mr. Longtail, the mouse gentle- 
man. He likes night visits better than day ones, 
so that’s why I go in the evening. He’s like an 
owl that way.” 

Well, don’t stay too late,” said Nurse Jane, 

91 


92 Uncle Wiggily and the Candlestick Maker 


and Uncle Wiggily promised that he would not. 
Out into the night he went, but it was not very 
dark, for there was a moon shining. And as the 
rabbit uncle was hopping along through the 
woods he suddenly stepped upon something 
round, which rolled from under his paw and al- 
most threw him down. 

“ Ha! I wonder what that can be? ” Uncle 
Wiggily said. He looked and saw a brass 
candlestick on the ground. “ This is queer,” 
went on the bunny uncle. “ I did not know that 
candlesticks grew in the woods. Some one must 
have dropped it. Fll take it with me, and per- 
haps Mr. Longtail will know whose it is.” 

With the candlestick in one paw and his 
rheumatism crutch in the other. Uncle Wiggily 
once more hopped on. Pretty soon he saw a 
little light flickering through the trees. 

“ Why, that looks just like a lightning bug,” 
said the bunny uncle, ‘‘ only they are not out this 
time of the year. I wonder what that can be? ” 

Then he heard a tummity-tum-tum, drumming 
sound, and a voice sang : 

‘‘ Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub ; 

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. 
And the baker has taken the hot baked potato.” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Candlestick Maker 93 


‘‘ Why, that must be the last of the three, queer 
Mother Goose men, who went sailing a race in 
washtubs, when the weather was rainy,” said 
Uncle Wiggily. “ And this one must be the 
candlestick maker, for I have met the other two. 

“ But if this is the candlestick maker I don’t 
see how he can be sailing in his tub when the 
rain has stopped, and there are no little rivers, 
lakes or even puddles in the woods,” went on the 
rabbit gentleman. “ Everything is frozen over. 
I don’t see how he can.” 

Then the singing voice stopped, and Uncle 
Wiggily heard some one crying : 

“ Oh, dear ! Ouch, how it burns ! Oh, where 
can it be? Where can it be? ” 

The flickering light came nearer, and Uncle 
Wiggily, looking through the trees, saw that it 
was not a lightning bug, or firefly, but a little 
man, with a leather apron on, and a hammer and 
other tools hanging from his belt. The tools 
jingled and rattled. Behind the man, who was 
pulling it along as if it were a sled, with a rope 
through one the handles, was the washtub. In 
one hand the man carried a lighted candle, and, 
all the while, he kept on saying: 

“Oh, dear I Ouch! How it burns me! 
Oh, my ! ” 


94 Uncle Wiggily and the Candlestick Maker 


“ Excuse me/’ said Uncle Wiggily, politely, 
“ but you seem to be in trouble. Perhaps I can 
help you. What burns you? ” 

“ This candle,” answered the man. “ I ought 
to have a candlestick to hold it, but I dropped my 
nice brass candlestick as I ran through the 
woods, and now I have to hold the candle in my 
bare fingers. And it is so short that it burns me. 
Ouch! ” 

“ Ha! Then this is what you want,” Uncle 
Wiggily said, and he handed over the candle- 
stick he had picked up. 

“ The very thing! ” cried the little man, in de- 
light. “ Thank you so much. Now my fingers 
won’t burn any more.” 

He stuck the end of the lighted candle in the 
stick and spoke again. 

“ I’m the candlestick maker, as you can sec; 
I make candlesticks, but just now I am not mak- 
ing any, as I am on a race with the butcher and 
baker to see who first will get to Mother Goose’s 
house. We started out in a dreadful rain-storm, 
when we could float in our tubs like boats, but 
the butcher and baker seem to have gotten ahead 
of me.” 

“ They have,” said Uncle Wiggily. “ I met 
them two days ago.” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Candlestick Maker 95 


“ Then there isn't much use in my keeping 
on," said the candlestick maker. “ But it has 
gotten colder. It may snow, and if I come to 
a hill I can coast down it in my tub, which I made 
into a sled when I found the ground frozen and 
all the water gone. If I can slide down hill in 
my tub-sled I may yet get ahead of the butcher 
and baker and win the prize of a hot baked 
potato.” 

“ Perhaps you may,” said Uncle Wiggily, as 
he told how the baker had kindly thawed him off 
the frozen log with the hot baked potato and a 
hot loaf of bread. 

“ Well, I’ll be getting on,” said the candlestick 
maker, after a bit. “ Thank you for being kind 
to me. If ever I can do you a favor I will. My 
fingers no longer burn.” Then he hurried off 
through the woods, dragging his tub-sled after 
him. 

Uncle Wiggily had a nice visit with Mr. 
Longtail, the mouse gentleman, but when the 
bunny uncle started home the moon had gone 
down and it was very dark. Soon Uncle Wig- 
gily was lost in the woods. He could not tell 
which way to go, and he hopped around, stub- 
bing his paws and bunking into trees, until he 
was all sore and lame. 


96 Uncle Wiggily and the Candlestick Maker 


“ Oh, I wish I had a light ! ” he cried. And, 
no sooner had he spoken than he heard a drum- 
ming sound, and along came the candlestick 
maker with the lighted candle, 

“ Here you are! Here’s your light. Uncle 
Wiggily! ” the candlestick maker cried. “ I’ll 
light you all the way to your hollow-stump bun- 
galow.” 

“Good!” cried the bunny uncle. “But I 
don’t want to take your time and delay you. I 
thought you were racing.” 

“ I gave it up. The baker won and got there 
first. I just met Old Mother Hubbard and she 
told me. So I’m going to take you home.” And 
he did, making the woods light with his candle, 
all the way to the bunny uncle’s hollow-stump 
bungalow. 

So the rabbit gentleman was all right again, 
you see, and if the piece of cheese doesn’t run 
away from the slice of apple pie, and get lost in 
the rice pudding. I’ll tell you next about Uncle 
Wiggily and Tom-Tom. 


CHAPTER XV 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND TOM-TOM 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice rabbit 
gentleman, was going along through the woods 
one day, wondering what sort of an adventure 
he would have, when he met Mother Goose, who, 
as I have told you before, had come, with her 
large family of funny folk, to live in the forest 
near the hollow-stump bungalow of the bunny 
uncle. 

“ How do you do. Mother Goose? asked Mr. 
Longears, as he made a polite bow, taking off his 
tall silk hat. 

‘‘ I am very well, thank you,’’ she said. You 
look well yourself. I wonder if you have seen 
him anywhere, as you have been walking 
along? ” 

Seen whom? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. “ If 
you mean the butcher, the baker, and the candle- 
stick maker, I have. I met them the other 
day ” 

No, thank you, I don’t mean them,” said 

97 


98 Uncle Wiggily and Tom-Tom 


Mother Goose. “ They have come safely home 
again with their rub-a-dub-dub-tubs, and they 
are happily living together once more. No, it's 
another of my friends who is lost. You may 
have seen him. He is " 

But just then Old Mother Hubbard came to 
the door of her house, after having given her dog 
a bone, and she called across the woodland path: 

“ Oh, Mother Goose ! Little Tommie Tucker 
is crying for his supper. What shall I give him, 
white bread and butter? " 

Wait a minute. I’ll be right there,” an- 
swered Mother Goose. “ I want to put a little 
molasses on Tommie’s bread. You walk on,” 
she said to Uncle Wiggily. “ I’ll come back to 
you in a minute and tell you who is lost.” 

But Mother Goose must have had to give 
Tommie Tucker a bigger supper than usual, or 
else some of her other friends wanted something, 
for Uncle Wiggily hopped on and on, and 
the nice old goose lady did not come to speak to 
him. 

“ It’s funny,” said the bunny uncle, ‘‘ but I 
wonder who it is that is lost? I can’t very well 
look for him — or her — until I know. It may be 
Little Bo Peep, or Jack Horner. Well, I’ll keep 
on, and I may meet with the lost one, whoever 


Uncle Wiggily and Tom-Tom 99 


he or she is; or I may have an adventure. Who 
knows? 

Well, the bunny uncle had not gone on much 
farther before, all at once, he heard some one 
running through the bushes, and the sound of 
loud squeals. 

“ Ha! Something is happening,” said Uncle 
Wiggily. “ Perhaps this is the adventure I am 
expecting.” 

Then, all of a sudden, through the bushes 
came running a boy with a squealing pig under 
his arm. 

“ Squee! Squee! Squee! ” cried the pig. 

‘‘ Hold on! Stop! Wait a minute! ” cried 
Uncle Wiggily. “Who are you?” 

“ I am Tom-Tom, the piper’s son,” was the 
answer. 

“ Oh, you’re from Mother Goose, aren’t 
you ? ” 

“ Yes, but I’m running away from her now,” 
answered Tom-Tom. “You know how it goes 
in the book: 

“ ‘ Tom-Tom, the piper’s son. 

Took a pig and away he run. 

The pig was eat, and Tom was beat, 

And he went roaring down the street.* 


100 Uncle Wiggily and Tom-Tom 


“ That’s how it is in the book,” went on 
Tom-Tom. “ Only it isn’t exactly right. I 
didn’t do any roaring, though I may when I get 
the beating. It’s the pig who is doing the 
roaring.” 

“ It sounds more like squealing,” said Uncle 
Wiggily. 

“ Yes, you could call it that,” said Tom-Tom, 
as he looked at the pig under his arm, which 
cried louder than before. I mean the pig 
squealed, not Tom-Tom’s arm. 

“ But look here,” said Uncle Wiggily. “ You 
should not have taken this pig. That’s quite 
wrong you know, Tom-Tom. Besides, Mother 
Goose is after you. I just met her, and she 
started to tell me about some of her friends being 
lost. She asked me to help look for him — or her 
— but before she could tell me who it was, she 
was called away. It must have been you she 
meant.” 

“ It was,” said Tom-Tom. ‘‘ I had to run after 
I took the pig, but the funny part of it is I can’t 
find any street to run down, as the book says I 
did. It’s all woods around here; no streets at 
all. I’d run with the pig down the street, fast 
enough, if I could find one.” 

'' No, no I You mustn’t do that,” said Uncle 


Uncle Wiggily and Tom-Tom loi 


Wiggily. “ You only go down the street after 
the pig was eat, or eaten, to be more correct. Be- 
sides, you ought not to take the pig at all.” 

“ What shall I do? ” asked Tom-Tom. “ I 
have the pig now, you see. What must I do with 
it? ” 

“ ril take him with me,” said Uncle Wiggily. 
“ I can lead him back home, and then you must 
go tell Mother Goose you’re sorry, and I don’t 
believe she’ll whip you or beat you.” 

All right,” said Tom-Tom, the piper’s son. 
“ I’ll do as you say.” 

He gave Uncle Wiggily the pig, which was 
a baby one, and the bunny gentleman led it 
along by a string, while Tom-Tom hurried off to 
tell Mother Goose he was sorry that he had been 
a little bad. And Mother Goose forgave him, 
and did not whip him, so Tom-Tom did not have 
to go roaring down the street after all. 

‘‘ Well, what have you there. Uncle Wig- 
gily? ” asked Nurse Jane, when she saw the 
bunny gentleman coming along leading a pig. 

‘‘ This is the pig Tom-Tom had,” said Mr. 
Longears, and then, all at once, before he could 
say anything more, the pig began to squeal with 
all his might and so loudly that Nurse Jane 
could not hear the bunny uncle’s voice. 


102 Uncle Wiggily and Tom-Tom 


‘‘ Mercy/' cried the muskrat lady. “ What a 
noise ! ” and she put her paws over her ears. 
“Take him away, Wiggy, do. That's a dear! 
Take him away! " 

“ Squee ! Squee ! Squee ! " yelled the baby 
pig. And then along came Mother Hubbard's 
dog. 

“ Ha! So here's where you are, eh? " asked 
the dog. “ Well, you come right back to your 
pen! " 

“ I will, and right gladly," squealed the pig, 
“ and don't let Tom-Tom take me again. 
Thank you. Uncle Wiggily, for bringing me 
this far." 

Then the dog led the pig home by the ear, 
piggie squealing all the way, but he stopped 
when Mother Goose gave him something to eat. 
And Tom-Tom never took the pig again, so the 
little boy did not have to run roaring down the 
street. I'm glad to say. 

And, if the sugar spoon doesn't whisper to 
the butter knife and have to stay on the table 
after the rest of the dishes go to the sink to be 
washed. I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily 
and the crooked man. 


CHAPTER XVI 

, UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CROOKED MAN 

“ Heigh-ho ! Away I go ! sang Uncle Wig- 
gily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, one day, 
as he looked in the glass to see if his whiskers 
were on straight, and his nose twinkling just 
right. ; 

“ Wha^? Away again? ’’ asked Nurse Jane 
Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper of 
the hollow-stump bungalow, as she finished dry- 
ing the dinner dishes. “ You seem to me to go 
out a great deal, Mr. Longears. 

‘‘ Far be it from me,’' she went on, ‘‘ to say 
anything about it, but I should think you would 
get tired of going around so much.” 

“ Oh, no,” Uncle Wiggily laughed. “ I like 
it. I have a new adventure nearly every day, 
and I think it is good for my rheumatism. So, 
heigh-ho I Away I go I ” 

Off through the woods went Uncle Wiggily. 
It would soon be Spring now, and already the 
pussy willows were just beginning to learn how 
to mew a little bit, like baby cats. 

103 


104 Uncle Wiggily and the Crooked Man 


As the rabbit gentleman went along he saw, 
lying on the path in front of him, a piece of 
money. But it was a very queer bit of money, 
indeed. It was all bent and twisted and crooked, 
as though a trolley car had stepped on it by mis- 
take, and on one side was a figure six. 

Well, maybe this will bring me good luck,'’ 
said Uncle Wiggily. “ It doesn’t seem to be 
good for much else — such crooked money. A 
six-cent piece, I guess it was once. I’ll just put 
it in my pocket.” 

So he did, and he walked along a little farther, 
until, coming to a place where a great, big tree 
had fallen to the ground. Uncle Wiggily heard 
some one sitting on it saying: 

Oh, dear! I’ve lost it! I can’t find it any- 
where, and without it I don’t see how I can do 
what it says in the Mother Goose book I must 
do. It’s lost — gone ! ” 

Uncle Wiggily looked and saw, sitting on the 
fallen tree, a very funny, but nice, old man. 
And the man was very crooked. He was bent 
and twisted until there was not a straight place 
on him, not even his nose, which was wobbled 
and bent over to one side, and his ears were 
folded together like pieces of paper. 

‘‘ Well, well,” said Uncle Wiggily, feeling 


Uncle Wiggily and the Crooked Man 105 


sorry for so crooked a man, “ this is too bad. I 
wonder what happened to him to make him so 
bent, and I wonder what he has lost? ” for the 
crooked, twisted man was turning his pockets 
inside out, and even his pockets were curled 
around like a corkscrew. 

“ Oh, such trouble as I am in I cried the man. 

Oh, dear!’’ 

“ Ha, trouble! That means here is a chance 
for me to help,” said the bunny uncle. ‘‘ Excuse 
me,” he said, “ but who are you, and can I do 
anything to help you? ” 

“Ha! Uncle Wiggily Longears! I know 
you by your pictures! ” said the man. “ Don’t 
you know me? I’m in the book that Mother 
Goose wrote. It says about me that once 

“ ‘ There was a crooked man. 

Who walked a crooked mile, 

And found a crooked sixpence 
Against a crooked stile. 

He bought a crooked cat. 

Which caught a crooked mouse, 

And they all lived together 
In a little crooked house.’ 

“ That’s who I am,” said the man. “ But now 


io6 Uncle Wiggily and the Crooked Man 


ril never be able to buy the crooked cat to catch 
the crooked mouse, and live with me forever in 
my little crooked house/^ 

“ Why not? '' asked Uncle Wiggily, sort of 
wondering like. 

“ Because I lost the crooked sixpence,’’ said 
the crooked man. “ I found it against the 
crooked stile all right, after I’d walked the 
crooked mile. The road did twist and turn like 
a carpenter’s shaving, so it was crooked all right. 
And when I came to the stile, which is a pair of 
steps to get over a fence — a pair on each side — 
they were so crooked I could hardly get over 
them. And there was the crooked sixpence. 
But I must have lost it out of my pocket, for I 
haven’t it now.” 

Is this it? ” asked Uncle Wiggily, as he took 
the crooked piece of money out of his ear, which 
he sometimes used as a pocket. 

‘‘ Oh, that’s just it ! ” cried the crooked man, 
in delight. “ How ever did you find it? ” 

It was lying on the path in the woods,” said 
the bunny uncle, “ and I picked it up. You may 
have it back.” 

“Oh, now I am all right!” laughed the 
crooked man. “ I can buy the crooked cat, and 


Uncle Wiggily and the Crooked Man 107 


it will catch a crooked mouse, and then we’ll 
walk along and find our little, crooked house.” 

“ But please don’t let your crooked cat catch 
my little mice friends, Jollie or Jillie Longtail, 
or Squeaky-Eeky, the cousin mouse? ” begged 
Uncle Wiggily. 

“Oh, indeed not!” promised the crooked 
man. “ My crooked cat will only catch a 
crooked candy mouse. Perhaps you would like 
to come with me and see me buy the crooked 
cat.” 

“ I would,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. “ I’ll 
come.” 

The crooked man started off, twisting this 
way and that as he walked along the crooked 
mile, and Uncle Wiggily, who was sort of curi- 
ous and inquisitive, asked: 

“ What made you get all twisted up this 
way? ” 

“ Rheumatism,” was the crooked man’s an- 
swer. “ But I don’t mind now, for I have no 
pain. In fact, I think it’s quite jolly to be 
crooked and live in a crooked house. It’s so dif- 
ferent from other people.” 

“ Yes,” said Uncle Wiggily, “ it is certainly 
different. But it is nice that you are so happy 


io8 Uncle Wiggily and the Crooked Man 


about it. Some folks would be sad. Fm glad 
you are jolly.^' 

Pretty soon the two friends came to where 
crooked cats were sold for crooked money. By 
this time Uncle Wiggily was so tired, from hav- 
ing to jump back and forth to follow the crooked 
man walking a crooked mile, that the bunny 
uncle thought he would go back to his hollow- 
stump bungalow and rest. 

But the crooked man, after he had bought the 
crooked cat, still went along with Uncle Wig- 
gily, and it was a good thing he did. For, when 
Uncle Wiggily was about halfway home, out 
from behind a stump a bad old fox jumped at 
him. Zip ! 

“ Ah, ha ! ’’ cried the fox. “ Now I have 
you ! And then he saw the crooked man and 
crooked cat, the fox did, and he rubbed his eyes 
with his paws, once or twice, and cried out : 

“Oh! What does this mean? I must be 
asleep and dreaming, for never can there really 
be such strange, crooked things in this world as 
that crooked man and cat. I must be dreaming, 
and pretty soon Fll wake up in my den. Fll just 
lie quietly and not move, or I might have a worse 
dream.’' 

And, thinking it was all a dream, the fox lay 


Uncle Wiggily and the Crooked Man 109 


down in the woods to sleep, and so he didn’t get 
Uncle Wiggily after all, thanks to the crooked 
man and cat. The bunny uncle hurried away 
from the sleeping fox, and the twisted chap, with 
the doubled-up pussy, soon reached their own 
crooked house, where they lived happily for 
many crooked years, catching crooked candy 
mousies that cried crooked candy tears. 

So no more at present, if you please. But in 
the next chapter, if the olive oil and the vinegar 
speak nicely to each other when they meet at 
the party in the lettuce salad. I’ll tell you about 
Uncle Wiggily and the barber. 


CHAPTER XVII 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BARBER 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old rab- 
bit gentleman, walked across the sitting-room of 
his hollow-stump bungalow, to where a looking- 
glass hung on the wall. He looked in the glass, 
and rubbed his paw, thoughtful like, up and 
down his chin. 

'' What is the matter? ” asked Nurse Jane 
Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper. 

Did something bite you? ” 

'' No,'’ answered Uncle Wiggily, “ but I 
think I need to shave off some of my whiskers. 
They are getting too long. Also I need a hair 
cut." 

“ Gracious goodness me sakes alive, and some 
corn-meal muffin lollypops! " exclaimed Nurse 
Jane. “ What for? A shave I A hair cut ! " 

“ Well, you see," exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, 
“ Spring is nearly here now, and, though I let 
my hair and whiskers grow long in the cold 
weather, to keep me warm, I don't need them so 
no 


Uncle Wiggily and the Barber ill 


long now, as it is getting warmer. So I shall go 
to the barber’s.” 

“ Why don’t you shave yourself? ” asked 
Nurse Jane. 

“ I could do that,” the bunny uncle said. 
‘‘ Only I can’t very well cut my own hair. So 
I might as well have both done by the barber.” 

The old gentleman rabbit, taking his red, 
white and blue striped barber-pole rheumatism 
crutch down off the bathtub, started out through 
the woods and across the fields for the barber’s. 

Mr. Longears had not gone very far before 
he came to the house where Mother Goose lived. 
She was up bright and early, shaking out her 
feather beds; and, seeing the old rabbit gentle- 
man, she asked: 

“ Where are you going? ” 

“ To the monkey-doodle barber’s to get 
shaved,” replied Uncle Wiggily. 

“ Oh, would you just as soon go to my bar- 
ber’s? ” asked Mother Goose. 

‘‘ Your barber’s? I didn’t know you had 
one,” said Uncle Wiggily, sort of laughing. “ I 
didn’t know you ladies had your hair cut.” 

“ We don’t,” spoke Mother Goose. But 
this barber is one of the friends in my story book, 


1 12 Uncle Wiggily and the Barber 


you know, and Fd like to give him something 
to do. You must have heard of him. 

‘‘ ‘ Barber, barber, shave a pig. 

How many hairs will make a wig? 

Four-and-twenty, that's enough. 

Give the barber a pinch of snuff.' " 

Oh, Fve often heard of him! " said Uncle 
Wiggily. “ But I haven't a pinch of snuff to 
give him, and besides I don't need a wig." 

“ Oh, well, you don't have to take a wig," said 
Mother Goose. “ As for the snuff, tell him Fll 
send little Tommie Tucker down with it later." 

“ Another thing," spoke Uncle Wiggily. “ If 
that barber of yours is shaving a pig I don't be- 
lieve he'll have time to shave me." 

“ Oh, that will be all right," said Mother 
Goose, laughing. “ He doesn't really shave a 
pig. I just put ‘ pig ' in to make it rhyme with 
* wig.' Hop along now, and get shaved. The 
barber lives down the lane, with the little boy 
who was given the bag of wool from Baa-Baa, 
the black sheep." 

‘‘ Very good," answered Uncle Wiggily, po- 
litely. So along he hopped, to the barber shop, 
which he soon reached. Out in front was a red, 
white and blue striped pole, like the rabbit gen- 


Uncle Wiggily and the Barber 113 


tieman’s rheumatism crutch, and inside the shop 
was the barber man, a little chap, not much 
larger than the bunny uncle himself. 

“ Shave? Hair cut? Shampoo? Massage? 
Manicure? ” asked the barber, clicking his 
scissors. 

“ Just a shave and hair cut,’’ answered Uncle 
Wiggily, getting in the chair, while the barber 
tucked an apron under the bunny’s chin. 

Fine weather we’re having,” said the bar- 
ber, as he began to cut Uncle Wiggily’s hairy 
fur. 

“ Very,” said Uncle Wiggily. ‘‘ To-morrow 
is the first day of Spring, and that’s why I’m 
getting a hair cut, to be ready for warmer 
weather.” 

“ Good I ” said the barber. Then, when he 
had Uncle Wiggily’s hair half cut, the barber 
stopped and began to mix up some soap suds 
lather in a cup. 

“ What are you doing? ” asked Uncle Wig- 
gily. “ Why don’t you finish cutting my hair 
before you shave me? ” 

“ Because my scissors are too dull. They 
would pull. I’ll send them to the scissors-to- 
grind man to be sharpened, and, while I’m wait- 
ing for them to come back I’ll shave you.” 


1 14 Uncle Wiggily and the Barber 


So he began to shave the bunny uncle’s whis- 
kers, talking all the while about the weather and 
what a hard Winter it had been, and how much 
carrots cost and all of that. 

Then, all of a sudden, when Uncle Wiggily 
was half shaved, there was a whistling sound 
out in front of the barber shop, and a voice sang: 

“ Barber, barber, shave a pig, 

How many hairs will make a wig? 
Four-and-twenty, that’s enough. 

Give the barber a pinch of snuff! ” 

Into the shop came little Tommie Tucker. 
He had a paper package in his hand, and he 
tossed it across the room to the barber, saying: 

“ Here’s your pinch of snuff. Mother Goose 
sent me with it. How is Uncle Wiggily’s shave 
and hair cut coming off? ” 

“It is coming off all — aker-choo! Ker- 
snitzio I Aker-ker-foozilum-goozilum — choo- 
chee 1 ” sneezed the barber, wiping some tears 
out his eyes. 

“Oh, my!” laughed Tommie Tucker. 
“ What kind of a shave and hair cut is a ker- 
choo! Oh-er — Snitzio! Whoo-ee-whoop-giz- 
zium! ” and Tommie himself was sneezing, too. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Barber 115 


“ What’s all this? ” asked Uncle Wiggily. 
“ Why don’t you finish my — ker-choo ! Goo- 
zoo ! Gizzium ! Whush ! Oh-ker-skee-zicks ! ” 
And he sneezed so hard that he sneezed himself 
right out of the barber’s chair into the middle of 
the room. Then they were all sneezing, the 
barber, Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker. 
For you see when Tommie tossed the barber the 
paper of snufif Mother Goose had sent the paper 
burst open and the snuff scattered all about the 
place. All over the shop floated the sneezy stuff. 

“ Ker-choo I ” sneezed the barber. 

“ A-ker-choo-choo I ” sneezed Tommie. 

“ A-ker-choo-choo-choo ! Toot-toot! All 
aboard!” and Uncle Wiggily sneezed like a 
railroad train going through a tunnel. 

“ Oh, I’m so sorry,” said Tommie Tucker. 
“ I should not have been so careless.” But soon 
all the snuff blew out of the window, the sneezes 
stopped, and the barber finished shaving and 
hair cutting Uncle Wiggily, and that’s the end 
of this story. 

But if the man beating our carpets doesn’t 
stop to play marbles with the moth balls, and 
make the roller-skates feel lonesome for a lolly- 
pop, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and 
the blackbirds. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BLACKBIRDS 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentle- 
man, came out of his hollow-stump bungalow 
to take a walk in the woods one day. 

“ I hope I may meet with an adventure,’’ he 
said to himself, as he limped along on his red, 
white and blue crutch, that Nurse Jane Fuzzy 
Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, had gnawed for him 
out of a corn-stalk. 

An adventure, you know, as I have told you 
before, is something that happens to you. If 
you find a stick of lollypop candy, that’s a nice 
adventure. But, if you lose your penny down 
a crack in the board walk, that’s an unpleasant 
adventure; though it may turn out all right in 
the end. 

“ Yes,” went on Uncle Wiggily, sort of 
twinkling his pink nose, thoughtful like, ‘‘ I 
hope I have a nice adventure, or, perhaps, even 
a funny one, like sneezing, as, when Tommie 
Tucker gave the barber the pinch of snuff.” 
ii6 


Uncle Wiggily and the Blackbirds 117 


That’s the story I told you last night, if you 
will kindly remember. 

So Uncle Wiggily hopped along, over the 
fields and through the woods, and pretty soon 
he came to where Mother Goose lived, not far 
from his own hollow-stump bungalow. Mother 
Goose was looking up at the sky. 

“ Good morning ! What are you looking 
for? ” asked the bunny uncle. “ Are you look- 
ing for signs of rain, or snow in the clouds? ” 

“ No, indeed,” laughed Mother Goose. “ But 
you know this is the first day of Spring, and the 
little birds should begin to sing. I am looking 
to see if the blackbirds are flying up from down 
South, where they went to spend the Winter. 
They always come back in the Spring, you 
know.” 

‘‘ Yes,” said Uncle Wiggily. ‘‘ But I do not 
see any blackbirds coming,” and he, too, looked 
up at the sky. It was blue — very blue and pretty 
— like babies’ eyes. And there were little white 
clouds in the sky, floating along like fairy ships. 
But there were no blackbirds to be seen. 

I hope nothing has happened to them,” said 
Mother Goose, sort of anxious like. “ They 
should be here now.” 

‘‘ I, too, hope they are all right,” Uncle Wig- 


ii8 Uncle Wiggily and the Blackbirds 


gily said. “ I am going for a walk, and if I see 
the blackbirds, I will tell them to hurry, as you 
are looking for them.’’ 

“ I’ll be very glad if you do that,” spoke 
Mother Goose, and then she had to go next door 
to see if Little Bo-Peep had found her lost sheep. 

Once more Uncle Wiggily hopped along. 
He looked on all sides of him, and up in the air, 
hoping he might see the blackbirds, for then, 
surely, it would be Spring, and Winter had 
lasted all too long for the animal folk. 

But no birds could the bunny uncle see. On 
and on he went, until, after a while, he came to 
the palace where lived Old King Cole, the jolly 
old soul. And, as Mr. Longears was wondering 
whether or not to go in, and pay King Cole a 
visit, he heard some one humming a verse that 
went like this : 

Sing a song of sixpence, 

A pocket full of rye. 

Four-and-twenty blackbirds, 

Baked within a pie. 

When the pie was opened, 

The birds began to sing. 

Wasn’t that a dainty dish 
To set before the King? ” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Blackbirds 119 


Uncle Wiggily stood still. He thought for a 
moment. 

I wonder/' he said. “ I wonder — four-and- 
twenty — blackbirds? Mother Goose didn’t say 
how many she was expecting, and these may be 
the very same ones. I guess I’ll go in and see 
about this.” 

Into the palace of Old King Cole went the 
bunny uncle. He knew his way about very 
well, for he had been there before. From the 
kitchen came all sorts of the most delicious 
smells, just like a pie baking. 

‘'Why, hello. Uncle Wiggily!” cried jolly 
Old King Cole, as he saw the bunny uncle hop- 
ping along. “ Come in and sit down I How 
are you? ” 

“ Fine I ” cried the bunny uncle. “ Very fine, 
indeed. And yourself? ” he asked, politely. 

“ I never felt better in my life. I am just go- 
ing to have a bit of lunch. Won’t you sit down 
and help me enjoy it? ” asked Old King Cole, 
also politely. “ You may have some carrots 
with lettuce sauce on, or a bit of boiled lolly- 
pops with ice cream cones sprinkled on the top. 
Anything you wish I ” 

“ That is very good of you,” said Uncle Wig- 
gily. “ But don’t go to any trouble on my ac- 


120 Uncle Wiggily and the Blackbirds 


count. I’ll have whatever you are going to 
have.” 

“ Then it will be pie ! ” cried Old King Cole. 
“ I told the cook to have pie to-day, and I think 
it is ready. I’ll ring the bell for it.” 

“ Ding-dong! ” rang the bell. In came the 
cook with a big pie on a dish. And the cook 
began to hum : 

“ Sing a song of sixpence, 

A pocket full of rye. 

Four-and-twenty blackbirds. 

Baked within a pie.” 

“ What’s that? ” cried Old King Cole. 
“Twenty-four blackbirds baked in my pie! 
Why, how did that happen? ” 

“ It was this way,” said the cook. “ You told 
me to give you pie to-day. Well, I made all 
ready for it, but, at the last minute, I had noth- 
ing to put in the pie — no apples, no cherries, no 
peaches — nothing at all. I did not know what 
to do, but, all of a sudden, I looked out of the 
window, and I saw two dozen blackbirds flying 
along. 'The very thing!’ said I to myself. 
‘ They’ll do for Old King Cole’s pie ! ’ I asked 
them if they would mind getting in between the 
upper and lower pie crusts, and they said no.” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Blackbirds 121 


“ And did they? asked the king, putting his 
crown on sideways. 

“ They did,'' answered the cook. “ Look! " 
and he sang : 

“ When the pie was opened. 

The birds began to sing. 

Wasn't that a dainty dish 
To set before the king? " 

Then, taking care not to hurt the feathered 
singers, the cook cut open the pie. Surely 
enough, out flew the blackbirds, singing as 
sweetly as one could wish. Around and around 
the palace they flew, singing, and Uncle Wig- 
gily cried : 

“ Why, these must be the blackbirds Mother 
Goose is looking for 1 Did you come up from 
the South to tell us that Spring has come? " he 
asked them. 

“ Yes," answered the birds, “ we did. But 
first we wanted to snuggle up in the pie for the 
king." 

“ Hal Well, you did it all right! " laughed 
Old King Cole. “ But, now, I don't need you 
in my pie any longer, so fly away to Mother 
Goose. Uncle Wiggily and I will eat cake, in- 


122 Uncle Wiggily and the Blackbirds 


stead of pie, to-day, since there is nothing be- 
tween the crusts to chew on.” 

So they ate cake, and the blackbirds, which 
had only been put in the pie just after it came 
from the oven, flew all about animal land, sing- 
ing: “ Spring is here I Spring is here I ” 

So the bunny gentleman had his adventure 
after all, you see, and if the cake of soap doesn’t 
slide over the bathroom floor, and bunk into 
the wash rag, when it is cleaning its teeth. I’ll 
tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the fat 
man. 


CHAPTER XIX 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FAT MAN 

‘‘ A LETTER for you, Uncle Wiggily,” said 
Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady 
housekeeper, as she went to the door of the hol- 
low-stump bungalow, when the bird postman 
gave a whistle, and a tap of his bill, to let them 
know that he had some mail. 

“ A letter for me ! Thats' nice I said the 
bunny uncle. “ Why, it’s an invitation to a 
party — for you and me,” he went on to Nurse 
Jane. “ It’s from Jollie and Jillie Longtail, the 
mice children. They want us to come to their 
house,” and he read the invitation. 

Shall you go? ” asked Nurse Jane. 

“ I shall,” answered Uncle Wiggily. And 
before I go I must practice that new ice cream 
cone dance, where you stand on one ear and eat 
a lollypop. You’ll go, of course. Nurse Jane.” 

“ Well, I don’t know. I need a new dress, 
and ” 

“ Say no more about it I ” cried Uncle Wig- 

123 


124 Uncle Wiggily and the Fat Man 


gily, with a jolly laugh. “ Here is some money. 
Go down to the five and ten cent store and buy 
the finest gold and diamond silk dress you can 
find. I want you to look nice.” 

So Nurse Jane bought the new dress, which 
had rows and rows of double plaited insertion 
with fried egg tassels down the side, and Uncle 
Wiggily practiced dancing for the party the 
Longtail mice children were to have. 

At last the evening for the party came. Off 
started Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane, talking 
of the good times they were going to have, when, 
all at once, the bunny gentleman cried : 

‘‘Oh, dear! IVe forgotten my dancing 
shoes 1 ril run back to the bungalow after them. 
You keep on. Nurse Jane, and I’ll soon catch up 
to you.” 

Uncle Wiggily turned back, taking a short- 
cut to the hollow-stump bungalow, where he 
lived, and he was almost there v/hen, all at once, 
he heard some one crying sadly: 

“ Oh, dear! It’s gone! Oh, what shall I do? 
I’d go after him if I could, but I can’t. Oh, 
what trouble I’m in! ” 

“Ha! Trouble!” cried the bunny uncle. 
“ Some one is in trouble ! That’s what I like to 
hear ! I mean I like to hear it because I like to 


Uncle Wiggily and the Fat Man 125 


help people out of trouble. I must see who 
this is.’^ 

He looked through the bushes and there, sit- 
ting on a stump, in the moonlight. Uncle Wig- 
gily saw a very big man, with a turban — a white 
cloth, like a twisted towel — around his head. 
The man was sort of chocolate-colored. 

“ Well, what is your trouble? ” asked Uncle 
Wiggily. “ Perhaps I can help you. Who are 
you? ” 

“ Surely you must have heard of me,’' said the 
big man, puffing out his chest. “ I am in 
Mother Goose’s book.” 

‘‘ I don’t seem to remember you,” said Uncle 
Wiggily, sort of thoughtful like, scratching his 
pink, twinkling nose with his ear. “ If you 
would kindly tell me ” 

Then the troubled one sang: 

‘‘ I am the fat man from Bombay, 

I was smoking my pipe one fine day. 
When a bird, called a snipe. 

Flew away with my pipe. 

Which vexed the fat man of Bombay.” 

‘‘ Oh, now I remember you,” said Uncle Wig- 
gily- 


126 Uncle Wiggily and the Fat Man 


‘‘ Fm glad you do/’ spoke the fat man. '' So 
you see how it is. Fm really quite vexed, which 
means just a little angry, and Fm in trouble, for 
the snipe bird did fly away with my pipe, and 
I can’t smoke, and I must do that, or it won’t be 
the way it is in the Mother Goose book. Do 
you think you can help me? ” 

" Well, Fll try,” said Uncle Wiggily. “ You 
just wait here until I run to my hollow-stump 
bungalow for my dancing slippers, and, when 
I come back Fll see what I can do.” 

Uncle Wiggily hurried on through the woods, 
found his dancing shoes, and was hurrying 
back, when, all of a sudden, he slipped and fell 
head over heels with his slippers, and a big sliver 
was stuck in his pawi. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” cried the bunny uncle. “ That 
sliver hurts very much ! What shall I do? Now 
I am in trouble, for I can’t dance and I can’t 
help the fat man of Bombay. Oh, dear, what 
can I do? ” 

Uncle Wiggily couldn’t hop on with that 
sliver in his paw, and he couldn’t pull it out, try 
as he did. 

“ Help ! Help ! ” he called, as loudly as he 
could. “ Will no one help me, and the fat man 
of Bombay? ” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Fat Man 127 


“ Ha ! Who is that calling? ’’ asked a voice. 
‘‘ And who knows about the fat man of Bom- 
bay? ” 

“ I do,” answered the bunny uncle. I am 
calling, and I know the Bombay fat man. He 
is in trouble, too.” 

Then through the bushes came flying a bird 
called a snipe, and in his bill he carried a pipe. 

‘‘Oh, you have it!” cried Uncle Wiggily. 
“ Why don’t you give it back to him so he won’t 
be sad and vexed any more? Why don’t you 
give back the pipe to the fat man of Bombay? ” 
“ I would, if I could find him,” answered the 
snipe. “ You see, I only took his pipe in fun. 
He looked so funny sitting there smoking, that 
I thought I’d play a trick on him. So I flew 
away with his pipe, that’s because I’m a snipe. 
But I’ll give it back to him now. Is there some- 
thing the matter with you? ” 

“ Yes,” answered Uncle Wiggily, sadly, “ I 
have run a big wooden splinter in my paw, and 
I can’t get it out, and I want to go to the Long- 

tail dance and I can’t ” 

“ Of course you can! ” cried the snipe bird, in 
a jolly voice. “ With my sharp bill I can easily 
pull the splinter out of your paw. Let me get 
hold of it.” 


128 Uncle Wiggily and the Fat Man 


Laying down the fat man’s pipe, the snipe 
soon pulled the splinter out of Uncle Wiggily ’s 
paw. 

“Now I can go to the dance!” cried the 
bunny uncle. 

“ And if you will show me where the fat man 
of Bombay is, I’ll take him back his pipe,” said 
the snipe. 

“This way!” cried Uncle Wiggily. He 
showed the bird where the sad, fat man was sit- 
ting, and the snipe gave back the pipe. 

“ Oh, how good you are ! ” cried the fat man, 
striking a match, but only in fun, of course. 
“ Now my troubles are over.” 

“ And so are mine — the sliver-trouble ! ” said 
the bunny uncle. Then the fat man of Bombay, 
which is in India, smoked his pipe, the snipe 
flew away and Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane 
went on to the dance and had a fine time. 

And if the top of the stairs doesn’t go sit at the 
bottom, so the wax doll can’t get up to sleep in 
the cat’s cradle. I’ll tell you next about Uncle 
Wiggily and the tarts. 





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CHAPTER XX 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE TARTS 

“Where are you going, Uncle Wiggily? 
asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat 
lady, as she saw the rabbit gentleman starting 
out of the hollow-stump bungalow one morning. 

Oh, just for a walk, over the fields and 
through the woods,” he answered. “ This is the 
Spring of the year, now, you know, since the 
four-and-twenty blackbirds jumped out of Old 
King Cole's pie, and I want to see if the grass 
and flowers have begun to spring up.” 

“ I think it is a little early for them,” spoke 
Nurse Jane. 

“ Well, I’ll go for a walk, anyhow,” said 
Uncle Wiggily. 

So the bunny uncle hopped on and on, some- 
times leaning on his red, white and blue striped 
barber-pole rheumatism crutch, that Nurse Jane 
had gnawed for him out of a corn-stalk, and 
again he would carry it under his paw. 

Pretty soon Uncle Wiggily came to the palace 
129 


130 Uncle Wiggily and the Tarts 


where Old King Cole lived. He was thinking 
of going inside, and perhaps playing a game of 
checkers, as he used to do with Grandfather 
Goosey Gander, when, all at once, the bunny 
uncle saw a lady looking at him from the kitchen 
window. 

The lady had on a silk dress, all spangled over 
with red hearts, like a valentine. And on her 
head was a cap, and that had blue hearts on, so 
she looked very pretty indeed.’' 

“ How do you do? ” asked the lady of Uncle 
Wiggily. 

‘‘ Very well,” he answered. “ And how are 
you? ” 

“ Oh, not well at all,” was the answer, and 
the lady sighed sadly. ‘‘ Oh, there is so much 
trouble here ! ” 

‘‘ Trouble? Trouble? ” asked Uncle Wig- 
gily. “ Why, then I came to just the right 
place. 

“ How is that? ” asked the lady, sort of sur- 
prised like. 

“ Because I always try to help trouble, or 
those who are in it. Let me see now, I don’t be- 
lieve I have the pleasure of knowing you,” and 
Uncle Wiggily sort of made his nose twinkle 
inquisitive like. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Tarts 131 


Oh, you must have heard about me,” said 
the lady, with a smile. “ Fm in Mother Goose’s 
book, you know. Listen to this: 

The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts. 
All on a summer’s day. 

The Jack of Hearts, he took those tarts. 
And with them ran away.’ 

“ I am the Queen of Hearts,” said the lady, 
bowing politely. 

‘‘ Pleased to meet you,” spoke Uncle Wig- 
gily, also with a low bow. “ So that is the 
trouble, eh? The Jack of Hearts has taken the 
tarts away? ” 

Well, no, not exactly,” answered the Heart 
Queen. “ You see, I haven’t yet made the tarts. 
But, when I do, I suppose the Jack will take 
them, and then there’ll be trouble, for Old King 
Cole specially wants them.” 

‘‘ Why haven’t you yet made them? ” asked 
the bunny uncle. “If it says in the Mother 
Goose book that you must make the tarts, why 
don’t you make them? ” 

“ Because, in the first place,” answered the 
Queen of Hearts, sort of shivering like, “ this 
isn’t a Summer day. And, in the second place. 


132 Uncle Wiggily and the Tarts 


I don't know how to make the tarts — that’s the 
trouble.” 

“ Well, that is easily mended,” spoke the 
bunny uncle. “ I can’t make a Summer day out 
of a Spring one, but I can show you how to make 
tarts.” 

“Oh, can you — and will you?” asked the 
Queen of Hearts, clapping her hands in delight. 

“ I can and will,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. 
“ I have often watched Nurse Jane Fuzzy 
Wuzzy, my muskrat lady bungalow keeper, 
make them, so I ought to know how.” 

“ Tell me,” said the Queen, “ and we’ll do it.” 

“ You take flour and water and milk and 
sugar and a yeast cake and spices and make a pie 
crust,” said the bunny uncle. “ Then you bake 
it in the oven after you have cut it out in little 
round pieces, some with three holes in, and some 
just plain.” 

“ Oh, how lovely that sounds ! ” cried the 
Queen, clapping her hands again. “ I have all 
the things you need. Let’s m.ake the tarts.” 

“ And when the crust is baked in the oven,” 
went on Mr. Longears, “ you take out two pieces 
of tarts, put jam in between them, press them 
together, and — there you are.” 

“ Lovelier and more lovely ! ” cried the 


Uncle Wiggily and the Tarts 133 


Queen. Oh, I am so glad you happened to 
come along. Now we’ll begin.” 

So she and Uncle Wiggily mixed up the sugar 
and spice, and other things nice, making the 
pie crust, out of which they cut round, flat 
pieces, some with three holes in, and some plain. 

“Oh, what lovely tarts they’ll be!” laughed 
the queen. “ Isn’t it a shame that the Jack of 
Hearts must take them away? ” 

“ Well, if it’s that way in the Mother Goose 
book, it can’t be helped,” said Uncle Wiggily. 
“ But when he takes these tarts we’ll make some 
more.” 

So the tarts were made and set aside to cool. 

“ Now we’ll hide behind the kitchen door,” 
said the Queen of Hearts, “ and watch the Jack 
as he comes in to get them. I hope he doesn’t 
take them all.” 

“ Maybe he won’t,” said Uncle Wiggily. 

Pretty soon, as the bunny gentleman and the 
Queen of Hearts were hiding, into the kitchen 
came the Jack of Hearts. He was a funny chap, 
with little candy hearts all over his clothes and 
cap. 

“ Ah, ha! ” said the Jack, smacking his lips. 
“ This is tart day. Here is where I have a fine 
feast I I’ll get the tarts of the Queen of Hearts.” 


134 Uncle Wiggily and the Tarts 


Laughing to himself, the Jack went up to the 
shelf where the tarts were cooling. He lifted 
one down, and took a big bite from it, saying: 

“ ril taste them before I take them away.’* 

But, no sooner had he tasted it than the Jack 
of Hearts he dropped that tart and, all excited 
like, he cried: 

‘‘ Oh me ! Oh my I Oh ice water and lemon- 
ade! Oh, how my mouth burns! I don’t want 
any of those tarts ! Oh, no,” and away he ran, 
not taking one. 

‘‘ Why, that’s queer,” said the queen. “ He 
should have taken those hearts. That’s the way 
it is in the book.” 

The bunny uncle looked at the tarts he and the 
Queen had made. He took a little taste of one, 
and then Uncle Wiggily said: 

‘‘ No wonder the Jack didn’t want them. By 
mistake we have put red pepper in the tarts in- 
stead of red raspberry jam! They’re as hot as 
a stove. Oh dear ! ” 

‘‘ Never mind,” said the Queen, sweetly. 
‘‘ We’ll make some more tarts, and this time 
we’ll do it right and put in the jam. Anyhow 
I’m glad, for now the Jack won’t want to take 
the new tarts I make.” And the Jack did not. 
He had had enough. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Tarts 135 


So the tarts were made over again by Uncle 
Wiggily and the Queen — right, this time, with 
real jam — and King Cole ate them and said they 
were fine. And if the paper boy doesn't turn 
into a bottle of ink, and make the fountain pen 
go swimming with the goldfish. I’ll tell you next 
about Uncle Wiggily and the jumping cow. 


CHAPTER XXI 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE JUMPING COW 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice, old gen- 
tleman rabbit, started out from his hollow-stump 
bungalow one day, to take a walk. He hopped 
over the fields and through the woods, won- 
dering whether or not he might meet with an 
adventure, when, after a little while, he came 
to the House that Jack Built. 

And there, nicely wrapped up in a bag, the 
bunny uncle saw the malt that lay in the House 
that Jack Built. Malt, you know, is a sort 
of flour, out of which they make buckwheat 
cakes. 

“ My goodness! exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, 
as he scratched his pink, twinkling nose, I did 
not think I had come this far.’’ 

He stood in front of the House that Jack 
Built, wondering whether or not he ought not 
go in and say “ howdy do,” when he saw coming 
out of the house the rat that ate the malt, and the 

136 


Uncle Wiggily and the Jumping Cow 137 


cat that caught the rat, and the dog that worried 
the cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that 
lay in the House that Jack Built. 

“ Well, this is very strange,'’ said Uncle Wig- 
gily to himself. “ They all seem to be running 
away ! ” And indeed they were. For the cat 
was chasing the rat and the dog was chasing 
the cat and the rat was chasing after its own 
shadow, so as to get away from the cat, and then, 
all of a sudden, out came Mother Goose her- 
self. 

“ Oh, have you seen her. Uncle Wiggily? ” 
asked Mother Goose. “ I am so worried about 
her I" 

“ Seen whom? About whom are you 
worried? " asked the rabbit gentleman, po- 
litely. 

“ The jumping cow," answered Mother 
Goose. “ She's gone ! " 

“ I guess you mean the cow with the crumpled 
horn, don't you?" asked the bunny uncle. 

She's the one, you know, that tossed the dog 
that worried the cat that caught the rat that 
ate the malt that lay in the House that Jack 
Built." 

“ No, I don't mean that cow," answered 
Mother Goose. “ I mean the jumping cow. 


138 Uncle Wiggily and the Jumping Cow 


She’s the worst cow for jumping you ever saw. 
She jumps over all the fences and stone walls 
and when we want her to give some milk for 
Little Tommie Tucker’s supper she isn’t to be 
found. I’ve looked everywhere for her, but I 
can’t find her. Oh, dear I Such trouble! I 
thought she might be here, in the House that 
Jack Built, with the Crumpled-Horn Cow. 
But she isn’t.” 

“ Ha I Just you leave it to me, if you please,” 
said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. I’ll find the 
jumping cow for you. I can start off in my 
automobile, with the bologna sausage tires, 
that go faster when you sprinkle pepper on them 
or in my clothes-basket airship, with toy circus 
balloons on the handles.” 

“ You had better take your airship,” said 
Mother Goose. “ A jumping cow would be 
found up in the air, I think.” 

“ I think so myself,” said Uncle Wiggily. 
So he hurried back to the hollow-stump bunga- 
low and got out his airship. In that he sailed 
over the woods and fields, looking for the jump- 
ing cow. 

“ Do, please, ask her to hurry back,” said 
Mother Goose. For she has all the milk 


Uncle Wiggily and the Jumping Cow 139 


for supper, and Tommie Tucker and the 
Children of the Old Woman who Lives in a 
Shoe, are so hungry they don’t know what to 
do.” 

“ I’ll get her,” promised Uncle Wiggily. 

On and on he sailed in his airship. But he 
could not see the jumping cow. Up high he 
sailed and down low, and finally, when he came 
close to the ground, near the place where Sam- 
mie Littletail, the boy rabbit, lived with his sis- 
ter Susie and his father and mother. Uncle Wig- 
gily heard Jollie Longtail, the mouse boy, sing- 
ing a song that went like this : 

Hi diddle diddle ! 

The cat’s in the fiddle! 

The cow jumped over the moon, 

The little dog laughed 

To see so much sport. 

And the dish ran away with the spoon.” 

‘‘ Hello, what’s that! ” cried Uncle Wiggily, 
bringing his airship to a sudden stop and sailing 
down to earth. What cow is that Jollie, that 
jumped over the moon? ” 

“ Oh, Mother Goose’s cow,” answered the 
little mouse boy. ‘‘ You see, Joie Kat, the little 


140 Uncle Wiggily and the Jumping Cow 


kitten boy, crawled inside the fiddle, having a 
game of tag with Tommie, his brother. And 
when Jack Spratt tried to play music on the 
fiddle it made such a funny noise that the cow, 
who was waiting for Little Boy Blue to blow his 
horn, gave a big jump, and away up over the 
moon she went. That's the way it was,” said 
Jollie Longtail. 

“ I see,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “ Well, 
in that case, I suppose I must go sailing up to 
the moon to find the jumping cow. She is 
needed to bring home the milk for Little Tom- 
mie Tucker's supper.” 

Just then along came Mother Goose once 
more. 

“ Oh, look! ” she cried, pointing her broom 
up to the sky. “ There's my nice jumping cow 
now. She's falling down from her jump over 
the moon. Oh, she'll break her horns, surely. 
Oh, dear! What shall I do? ” 

“ Do? Do nothing,” said Uncle Wiggily, 
kindly. “ I will do it myself. See, I have my 
airship. I'll sail up and catch the jumping cow 
before she has time to fall. Then everthing 
will be all right.” 

“ Oh, please do ! ” begged Mother Goose. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Jumping Cow 141 


Up in his clothes-basket airship went Uncle 
Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman. 

up. 

and 

up 

and 

up 

The cow was falling 
down 
and 
down 
and 
down. 

Oh, dear ! ” cried Mother Goose, on the 
earth below. “ That cow should have known 
better than to jump over the moon! ” 

“ I think so myself,” said the Man in the 
Moon. “ I tried to stop her, but I couldn’t.” 

“ Never mind,” said Uncle Wiggily. “ It 
will be all right. I’m sure.” 

Then he steered his airship right under the 
falling cow, who was no longer jumping. In- 
stead, she was sailing toward the earth, with a 
piece of green cheese on one horn. She really 
had jumped over the moon, but she slipped, and 
that’s how the green cheese got on the tip of her 
horn. 


142 Uncle Wiggily and the Jumping Cow 


“ Here you are! ” cried Uncle Wiggily, in 
his jolly voice, just like a trolley car conductor. 
“ Plenty of room up in front.'' 

Then the jumping cow landed gently in the 
rabbit gentleman's airship, and he brought her 
down to earth as lightly as a feather, and the cow 
was just in time with the milk for Little Tom- 
mie Tucker's supper. 

So this teaches you that Uncle Wiggily can 
do many things besides eating carrots and hav- 
ing the rheumatism, and if the egg beater 
doesn't skip out to whip the rag doll's carpets, 
to earn five cents for the moving pictures. I'll 
tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the pus- 
sies. 


CHAPTER XXII 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PUSSIES 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the kind old rab- 
bit gentleman, was hopping along in the woods 
in front of his hollow-stump bungalow one 
morning, and, every now and then, he would 
stoop over and look at the ground. 

‘‘ What are you doing, Wiggy, if I may ask? 
inquired Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the musk- 
rat lady, who kept the bungalow nice and neat 
for the bunny uncle. 

“ You may ask, and I will tell you,’’ politely 
answered Mr. Longears. “ I am looking to see 
if any flowers are growing in the woods.” 

‘‘ What ! Flowers growing this time of 
year? ” cried Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. It is much 
too early ! ” 

“ Why, it was the first of Spring, the other 
day ! ” said Uncle Wiggily. “ I should think the 
flowers would be waking up now, and putting 
their heads out from beneath the brown earth- 
blankets, under which they slept all winter.” 

143 


144 Uncle Wiggily and the Pussies 


“ Oh, no! ” laughed Nurse Jane. “ First we 
must have some April showers to bring May 
flowers.” 

“ Well, I am going to keep on looking,” said 
Uncle Wiggily. “ I may find a flower in the 
woods, or, if I do not, Fll have an adventure. 
Either one would be nice.” 

So away hopped the bunny uncle, leaning on 
his red, white and blue barber-pole striped rheu- 
matism crutch, which Nurse Jane had nicely 
speckled with pink candy for him on account 
of Spring coming. 

And, all of a sudden, as Mr. Longears went 
along, he slipped in a little puddle of water, 
and — presto-chango I Off flew his glasses and 
they were broken all to pieces. 

Oh, dear! ” cried Uncle Wiggily, picking 
up the bits. “ That’s too bad. Now I can 
hardly see to get along. I must take these glasses 
to the blacksmith shop to have them mended. 
I hope I don’t lose my way, for, without my 
glasses, I am almost as blind as a bat or an owl 
in daylight. But I will do the best I can.” 

With the pieces of his broken glasses in his 
pocket. Uncle Wiggily went along through the 
woods. He peered this way and that, for the 
sun hurt his eyes when he had no glasses, but 


Uncle Wiggily and the Pussies 145 


still he could see a little bit. Then, all at once, 
Uncle Wiggily, looking through the trees, said: 

“ Why, here comes Mrs. Wibblewobble, 
the duck lady, I do declare ! ” 

Uncle Wiggily made his necktie tidy and 
smooth, and pulled down his vest, for he wanted 
to look nice. Then he made a low bow and said : 

How do you do, Mrs. Wibblewobble? I 
am glad to meet you in the woods.” 

But there was no answer, and Uncle Wiggily 
said: 

Why, I wonder if she heard me? I hope 
Mrs. Wibblewobble isn’t getting deaf! I must 
speak louder.” 

He looked again where he thought he had 
seen the duck lady, going a little nearer, and, lo I 
it was only a stump that looked like Mrs. Wib- 
blewobble. 

“Well, well!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I 
can’t see at all well without my glasses. What a 
mistake to make ! ” 

He laughed and walked on, and, pretty soon 
he thought he saw Mrs. Stubtail, the lady bear, 
mother to Neddie and Beckie Stubtail. 

“ Why, how do you ” began Uncle Wig- 

gily, and then he saw it was only a big black 
stone on the woodland path. 


146 Uncle Wiggily and the Pussies 


“ Ha ! Another mistake ! ” cried the bunny 
uncle, with a laugh. “ I am making lots of them 
tO'day. It comes of having such poor eye- 
sight!’’ 

So he went on toward the blacksmith shop to 
have his glasses mended. A little later he 
thought a fallen log was Grandfather Goosey 
Gander, and, not long after that, he saw a pile of 
dried leaves and thought they were Uncle But- 
ter, the goat gentleman. He was just going to 
shake paws with the leaves, when he came closer 
he saw that he had made another mistake. 

“Well, well!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “It 
certainly is too bad not to have your glasses once 
you start wearing them.” 

On he went, a little farther, and he came soon 
to a place where some bushes were growing. 
Up in the bushes a little way from the ground. 
Uncle Wiggily saw some soft, furry, fuzzy 
things perched on the branches. 

“ Oh, the dear little pussies ! ” cried the rabbit 
gentleman. “ Some dog must have come along 
here and chased them up in the bushes. I’ll get 
them down. Don’t be afraid, little ones,” he 
said. “ I won’t let anybody harm you. Come to 
your Uncle Wiggily! ” 

The bunny uncle hopped up and held out his 


Uncle Wiggily and the Pussies 147 


paw to the fuzzy things. They did not speak to 
him. 

“ But that’s all right,” he said. “ They are 
too frightened even to mew. I’ll take them to 
Mother Goose and she will give them some 
warm milk. Come along, Pussies ! ” said the 
rabbit gentleman. 

But, though he went close to the bush, and 
called very gently, the pussies did not jump into 
his paws. 

“ I guess they are too frightened,” said the 
bunny uncle. “ I’ll just break off the branch 
with the pussies on,” thought Mr. Longears, 
“ and carry them home that way. Poor little 
pussies! Did a bad bow-wow dog scare you? 
Well, just come with your Uncle Wiggily, and 
it will be all right! ” 

So the bunny gentleman broke off the branch 
with the soft, fuzzy pussies on it, and away he 
walked through the woods. 

I’ll take them to Mother Goose,” he said, 

and then I’ll go to the blacksmith shop and 
have my glasses mended.” 

Uncle Wiggily soon was at the house of the 
lady who swept cobwebs out of the sky. 

“ Mother Goose ! Mother Goose ! ” he cried. 

I’ve brought you some little pussies on the 


148 Uncle Wiggily and the Pussies 


branch of a bush. A dog chased and scared 
them up there, and they were afraid to come 
down. Please get them some warm milk with 
carrot sauce in.'’ 

Mother Goose came running to the door. 
She looked at the fuzzy things Uncle Wiggily 
held out. Then she laughed. 

“What's the matter? " asked the bunny un- 
cle. “ Why don't you take care of the poor 
pussies? " 

“ Pussies? Pussies? " laughed dear old 
Mother Goose, harder than before. “ Those 
are pussy willows." 

“ Pussy willows " said Uncle Wiggily, sur- 
prised like. 

“ Yes, they are the soft, fuzzy blossoms of the 
willow bush. They are plants and not an ani- 
mal at all." 

“ Well, well ! " cried Uncle Wiggily. “ That 
shows what it is to be without glasses. I cer- 
tainly thought they were real pussies. I must 
hurry to the blacksmith's to have my glasses 
fixed." 

So he did, and his glasses were soon mended ; 
while Mother Goose put the pussy willows in 
water where they would blossom out into big 
cat-posies. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Pussies 149 


And if the stepladder doesn’t walk off with 
the cake of soap and have a birthday party for 
the broom and dust pan on the back stoop, I’ll 
tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the 
leaves. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LEAVES 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gen- 
tleman, stood out in front of his hollow-stump 
bungalow in the woods, one day, and looked 
carefully around. Then he glanced up at the 
blue sky. 

“ What is the matter? ” asked Nurse Jane 
Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady bungalow- 
keeper. “ Are you looking for some one? ” 

“ Well, no, not exactly,” replied the bunny 
uncle, slowly. “ I was just thinking that per- 
haps I had better begin to do some Spring clean- 
ing around my bungalow.” 

“ Spring cleaning ! Do you mean inside or 
outside? ” asked the muskrat lady, as she care- 
fully wiped a bit of flour off the end of her 
nose with her tail, for she had been baking a 
cake. 

“ Oh, I mean outside, of course,” replied 
Uncle Wiggily. Fll leave you to look after 
the bungalow, inside, while I clean up outside. 

150 


Uncle Wiggily and the Leaves 15 1 


You see there are so many last year’s dried leaves 
about, here in the woods, that if they were to 
catch fire our bungalow might burn.” 

“ Mercy! ” cried Nurse Jane. “ I wouldn’t 
want that to happen. Oh, my I ” 

‘‘ No, indeed,” Uncle Wiggily said. “ Once 
was enough. The last time we had a fire you 
and I had to board around with our friends. 
Still, it was not so bad as it might have been, for 
I met Mother Goose, and did some favors for 
her and her friends.” 

“ What were you thinking of doing to the 
leaves? ” asked Nurse Jane, curious like and in- 
quisitive. 

“ Why, I thought I’d rake them up in a pile 
and make a soft place, so if Sammie and Susie 
Littletail, the rabbit children, came along on 
their way home from school, they could jump on 
the leaves as they sometimes do in the hay.” 

‘‘ Very good,” Nurse Jane said. “ You rake 
up the leaves and I’ll wash the dishes.” 

So Uncle Wiggily began. For a rake he 
used the dried branch from a tree. It had many 
little ends to it, almost like the teeth of a rake, 
that branch had. 

I wonder if a rake ever gets the toothache? ” 
thought Uncle Wiggily, as he pulled and poked 


152 Uncle Wiggily and the Leaves 


the leaves into piles. “ If it does, it must hurt 
very much because there are so many teeth.” 

But the bunny uncle did not have a real rake, 
only a tree branch, which he used as one, and 
that had no teeth to ache, Fm glad to say. 

“ It will be good to get the layers of dead, 
dried leaves off the ground,” said Uncle Wig- 
gily, “ for soon the April showers will bring the 
May flowers, and they find it easier to spring up 
if there is no blanket of leaves over them to hold 
them down.” 

The bunny uncle soon had many piles of soft, 
dried leaves, and in a little while along came 
Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit children, 
and into the leaves they jumped, off a stump, 
bouncing up and down like rubber balls. 

Pretty soon Uncle Wiggily heard a voice say- 
ing: 

Oh, dear, isn’t it too bad? Yes, it’s even 
three, four, five, six, seven bad! That’s what it 
is!” 

“Ha! Some one in trouble!” said Uncle 
Wiggily, dropping his tree-branch rake and 
running back to the pile of leaves. “ I suppose 
either Sammie or Susie has fallen down, and 
bumped one of their noses. I must help them 
up!” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Leaves 153 


But when Uncle Wiggily got there the cup- 
board was bare — oh, no, excuse me, if you 
please. That’s in another story. I mean when 
the bunny uncle reached the pile of leaves where 
Sammie and Susie had been playing neither one 
of the rabbit children was in sight. 

“Oh, my!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “They 
must be all covered up with the leaves ! I’ll have 
to dig them out! No wonder it’s two, six, seven 
bad ! Poor rabbits under the leaves.” 

With his paws he began digging at the piles 
of leaves, scattering them all over, after his hard 
work of raking them up. But as he went deeper 
and deeper he could see no signs of the bunnj 
children. And then, from somewhere behind 
him. Uncle Wiggily heard the sad voice again 
saying: 

“Oh, dear! It’s too bad! Yes, it’s two, three 
and even sixteen-eleven bad. Oh, dear ! ” 

Turning quickly. Uncle Wiggily saw Jimmie 
Wibblewobble, the boy duck, with an empty bag 
over his wing shoulder. 

“Why, Jimmie! Is that you?” asked the 
bunny uncle, in surprise. “ I thought it was 
Sammie and Susie Littletail. They were play- 
ing in these dried leaves a while ago, but now I 
can’t find them, and I fear they may be 


154 Uncle Wiggily and the Leaves 


covered up so far down that I can never get them 
out.” 

“ Oh, don’t worry about that, Uncle Wig- 
gily,” said Jimmie, the boy duck. “ Sammie 
and Susie are all right. I met them running 
down a woodland path a little while ago, as I 
came along, and they were talking of what fun 
they had had in the leaves. They got tired and 
ran away when you weren’t looking. That’s 
why you can’t find them under the leaves. But, 
oh, dear I Two, sixteen-eleven bad! ” 

“ Why, what’s the matter with you? ” asked 
Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “ Are you in trouble, 
Jimmie? ” 

“ I am. Uncle Wiggily.” 

What kind of trouble, Jimmie, my duck 
boy? ” 

“ Feather-trouble,” answered the Wibblewob- 
ble chap. 

“ Feather-trouble? ” repeated Uncle Wiggily, 
sort of surprised like and astonished. “ Feather- 
trouble? ” 

“ Yes. You see my mother sent me with a bag 
of our best duck feathers for Mother Goose to 
make a feather bed from. Well, all at once, 
some strong March wind came dancing by, 
turned the bag inside out and blew away every 


Uncle Wiggily and the Leaves 155 


feather! And, what to do I don’t know, for 
there are no more feathers at our coop. And if 
Mother Goose doesn’t have feathers for her bed 
she will feel badly. Oh, dear 1 Such trouble ! ” 

Uncle Wiggily thought for a moment. Then 
he said : 

‘‘Ho, Jimmie! I see a way out of your 
trouble. Fill your bag with some of these soft, 
dried leaves. They will be nearly as good as 
feathers for Mother Goose, and, at the same 
time, you will be doing me a favor by taking 
away the leaves, so the flowers can grow.” 

“ Oh, fine! ” cried Jimmie. So he took a big 
bag of the leaves, which Mother Goose said 
were as good to sleep on as feathers, and thus 
everything came out just right, you see, and 
Sammie and Susie weren’t lost under the leaves 
after all, for which Uncle Wiggily was very 
glad. 

And if the fried egg doesn’t try to hide in the 
apple dumpling and make the peach stone jump 
over the shortcake, when we have company for 
supper. I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily 
and the wise man. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE WISE MAN 

“ Rat-a-tat -tat! ” came a knock on the door 
of the hollow-stump bungalow, where Uncle 
Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, lived. 

“ ril see who it is,'’ he called to Nurse Jane 
Fuzzy Wuzzy and the muskrat lady house- 
keeper was glad of that, for her paws were in 
the dishwater up to her elbows, and you know 
how it is yourself; you don’t like to answer the 
bell with your hands all soap bubbles, like a 
pipe. 

So Uncle Wiggily went to the door, and, 
standing there, he saw Nannie Wagtail, the little 
goat girl. And there were tears in Nannie’s 
eyes, and she was trying to wipe them away with 
the tips of her horns. But when she did this she 
only tickled herself and she had to laugh. 

But she didn’t want to laugh; she wanted to 
cry, for she was sad. And you know how it is 
yourself — you can’t laugh and cry at the same 
time; can you? 

‘‘ Why, Nannie I What is the matter? ” asked 

156 


Uncle Wiggily and the Wise Man 157 


Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “ Come in and tell me 
all your troubles! ’’ 

‘‘ Oh, dear 1 Boo hoo ! Hoo boo 1 I have lots 
of troubles 1 ” said the little goat girl. ‘‘ My best 
doll, Priscilla Spicecake Orangejuice, is gone.’' 

“ Gone! ” cried Uncle Wiggily. 

‘‘Taken!” exclaimed Nannie. “I was out 
in front of our house a while ago playing dolls 
with Beckie Stubtail, the little girl bear. Beckie 
had her doll, Esmeralda Pancake Eggturner, 
with her, and we were having a lovely time. 

“ But I laid my doll down to go in the house to 
get some cookies, and when I came out my doll 
was gone, and Beckie was crying.” 

“ Why, what happened? ” asked Uncle Wig- 
gily, surprised like. 

“ Beckie said a man came running along, 
grabbed up my doll, and before she could stop 
him he hurried off into the woods with my dear 
Priscilla Spicecake Orangejuice ! ” 

“ Oh, that’s too bad ! ” said the bunny uncle. 
“ Now don’t you cry any more. You just tell me 
what sort of a man he was who took your doll 
and I’ll go after him and make him give it back, 
even if I have to get the circus elephant to squirt 
water on him from the lemonade barrel. Tell 
me what sort of a man he was.” 


158 Uncle Wiggily and the Wise Man 


‘‘ He was a man who wore glasses,” said 
Nannie. 

“ Say no more! ” cried Uncle Wiggily. “ I 
think I know exactly who he is! Fll go after 
him at once.” 

So the bunny uncle, telling Nurse Jane not to 
wait lunch for him, started off over the fields and 
through the woods to look for Nannie’s doll. 
On the way he met Mother Goose, and he asked 
that old lady : 

Are any of your friends the kind of a man 
who wears glasses, and would take a little goat 
girl’s doll? ” 

“ Well, yes,” said Mother Goose, slowly, “ the 
Wise Man might. You see he spoiled his eyes, 
reading so much to make him wise, that he has 
to wear glasses. But he is really very kind. I 
think he only took Nannie’s doll for a joke, or 
perhaps he wants to get her another just like it 
and took that along for a sample.” 

“ Perhaps,” said Uncle Wiggily. But, any- 
how, I’ll find him and ask him about it.” 

So he walked and hopped on and on through 
the woods to where the Wise Man used to live, 
and pretty soon, from behind a big bush, the 
bunny uncle heard some one singing this 
song : 


Uncle Wiggily and the Wise Man 


159 


“ There was a man in our town, 

And he was wondrous wise. 

He jumped into a berry bush, 

And scratched out both his eyes. 

But when he saw his eyes were out. 

With all his might and main. 

He jumped into another bush 
And scratched them in again.” 

‘‘ Ha ! ” said Uncle Wiggily softly. “ I 
thought so ! The wise man ! I have found him I 
Now to see if he has Nannie’s doll! ” 

Uncle Wiggily peeked through the bush, 
which was a blackberry one, only there were no 
berries on it now. On the other side, sitting on 
the ground, was the Wise Man, wearing glasses, 
and he had Nannie’s doll in his hands. He was 
talking to the doll, something like this: 

“ Now, little doll, don’t be afraid. I won’t 
hurt you. I’m just going to toss you into the 
berry bush, and scratch out both your eyes. But 
that won’t hurt, for as soon as I see your eyes are 
out, with all my might and main. I’ll toss you in 
another bush and scratch them in again. There 
you go I ” 

Before Uncle Wiggily could stop him, the 
Wise Man had tossed Nannie’s doll, Priscilla 


i6o Uncle Wiggily and the Wise Man 


Spicecake Orangejuice, into the berry bush. 
Then the man cried : 

“ Yes, your eyes are scratched out, all right, 
dollie! Now to scratch them in again! ” And, 
before Uncle Wiggily could hop any closer to 
stop him, the Wise Man tossed again into the 
bush, the poor doll. And when she fell down 
the Wise Man carefully picked her up, and, 
looking at her, said: 

“Alas! Alack a-day! Woe is me! The 
eyes aren’t scratched in again at all ! Oh, dear, 
what shall I do? Fll have to get the little goat 
girl another doll.” 

Uncle Wiggily jumped out from behind the 
berry bush. 

“ What do you mean? ” asked the bunny 
uncle. “ Why do you treat a poor doll so? 
Look, her hair has come off, and her eyes have 
fallen out ! Oh, my ! ” and from the ground he 
picked up the doll’s hair-wig and eyes, which 
were of glass, fastened together with wire. 

“ I’m sorry,” said the Wise Man. “ I’m very 
sorry this has happened. But I read about the 
Wise Man in the Mother Goose book, who 
jumped into a berry bush and got a new pair of 
eyes. I thought I could do the same as he, for 
I’m tired of glasses. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Wise Man i6i 


‘‘ But I thought Fd try it on a doll first, to see 
if it were true. So, not having any doll of my 
own I took Nannie’s, meaning no harm. But 
see what I have done ! ” he said, sadly. “ I have 
scratched out her eyes and her wig is ofif, and I 
can’t put the eyes back again, nor yet the wig. 
It’s a good thing I didn’t jump into the scratchy 
bush myself. It is better to wear glasses than 
have no eyes at all.” 

Yes, indeed,” said Uncle Wiggily, and he 
felt sorry for the poor Wise Man. “ But never 
mind,” went on the bunny uncle. “ I know a 
monkey-doodle gentleman, who mends broken 
dolls. I’ll take Priscilla Spicecake Orangejuice 
to him, and he can fasten her eyes in again and 
glue on her wig.” 

“ Will you? Then please do ! ” said the Wise 
Man. “ I’ll pay the monkey doodle, and here is 
five cents extra for little Nannie. Tell her I’m 
sorry I borrowed her doll and I’ll never do it 
again.” 

All right,” cheerfully said Uncle Wiggily, 
“ and don’t you try to scratch your eyes out, and 
in again.” 

I won’t,” promised the Wise Man. 
“ Glasses are good enough for me.” 

The monkey-doodle gentleman soon fixed 


i 62 Uncle Wiggily and the Wise Man 


Nannie’s doll as good as ever, so the eyes opened 
and shut, and the little goat girl was happy once 
more, when Uncle Wiggily brought back Pris- 
cilla Spicecake Orangejuice. Thus, you see, 
everything came out all right, as I generally try 
to make it. 

And if the crazy quilt doesn’t jump into the 
rag bag and get lost so the pillow case has no 
place to sleep, when it comes home from the 
moving pictures. I’ll tell you next about Uncle 
Wiggily and the tailors. 


CHAPTER XXV 


UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE TAILORS 

“ Well, where are you going this morning, 
Uncle Wiggily? ” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy 
Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, of the rabbit gentle- 
man, as he lifted his red, white and blue striped 
rheumatism crutch down off the hat rack, and 
opened the front door. 

“ Oh, Fm just going out for a hop through 
the woods,” replied the bunny uncle. “ Mother 
Goose said that Grandfather Goosey Gander 
was coming to pay her a visit to-day, and, as I 
haven’t seen him in some time, I thought Fd go 
over myself and have a little talk.” 

Very well,” went on Nurse Jane, “ and on 
your way back I wish you would bring me a 
spool of thread.” 

‘‘ A spool of thread? Why, certainly,” prom- 
ised Uncle Wiggily, and off he hopped through 
the woods until he came to where Mother Goose 
lived. Her house was next door to the shoe, in 
which lived the Old Woman Who Had So Many 
Children She Didn’t Know What To Do. 

163 


164 Uncle Wiggily and the Tailors 


'' Good morning, Mother Goose,’' said Uncle 
Wiggily, politely. “ I hope I see you well. Has 
Grandpa Goosey Gander come yet? ” 

“ Not yet. I am expecting him every minute. 
Sit down and make yourself at home,” and 
Mother Goose dusted a chair. 

Uncle Wiggily sat down, and he and Mother 
Goose were talking about the best way to give 
the most bread and jam to animal children, when 
along came Grandpa Goosey. 

‘‘ I’m sorry I’m late,” he said, all sort of flus- 
tered like, “ but I lost a button off my coat. I 
stopped in a tailor’s to have it sewed on, but, 
would you believe me? There isn’t a tailor to 
be found in Woodland — not one in this whole 
forest! ” 

“ Nonsense 1 ” cried Mother Goose. “ Why, 
there are four-and-twenty tailors here — just as 
many as there were blackbirds baked in the pie 
that was set before the king. No tailors to be 
found out of all those four-and-twenty? Non- 
sense I There must be 1 ” and she swept cobwebs 
down out of the sky just for fun. 

“ Not a tailor 1 ” said Grandpa Goosey. “ I 
looked all over for one. Their shops were open, 
but the tailors were gone, and so I had to come 
without a button on my coat.” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Tailors 165 


‘‘ Never mind/’ said Mother Goose. “ I’ll . 
sew it on for you,” and she did. 

‘‘ That reminds me,” said Uncle Wiggily, 
after they had talked a bit. “ Speaking of tail- 
ors, I’m to bring Nurse Jane a spool of thread. 

I think I’ll be hopping along. If I can’t find any 
tailor in his shop, where I can buy the thread. 
I’ll have to go to the five and ten cent store.” 

So he said good-by to Mother Goose and 
Grandpa Gander, and away hopped the bunny 
uncle gentleman over the fields and through the 
woods. 

“ I wonder if I could find those four-and- 
twenty tailors? ” thought Uncle Wiggily. 

‘‘ Four-and-twenty — that’s just two dozen — 
quite a number. I wonder why they all left their 
shops? I wonder ? ” 

And just then from behind some bushes he 
heard some voices saying : 

“ You go up and jab her I ” 

No, you do it!” 

“ I’m afraid! ” 

Well, so am I. Hi there, who has a yard- 
stick? Let whoever has a yardstick go up and 
jab her! ” 

‘‘ And let some one tickle her with a needle.” 

“ You do it!” 


i66 Uncle Wiggily and the Tailors 


“ No, you. Fm afraid.’" 

Well, so am I! Boo!” 

Goodness me gracious sakes alive and some 
hooks and eyes 1 ” cried Uncle Wiggily. “ What 
does all this mean? Who’s afraid? ” He 
peeked through the bushes and there he saw, on 
the woodland path, a lot of men with needles, 
pins, spools of thread, tape measures, yardsticks, 
thimbles, scissors, linings, pockets, buttonholes 
and all things like that. 

Who are you? ” asked Uncle Wiggily, in 
surprise. 

“ ril tell you who we are,” answered one of 
the twenty- four, (for there were just two dozen 
of them) as the rabbit gentleman could count. 
Then some one sang this song: 

We four-and-twenty tailors went to catch a 
snail. 

The best man among us dared not touch her 
tail; 

She put out her horns like a little Kylow cow. 

So run, tailors! Run! Or she’ll bite us all 
just now! ” 

And as the tailor said that he turned and ran 
through the woods as fast as ever he could run, 
all the other twenty-three running after him. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Tailors 167 


‘‘ Oh, my ! Oh, me ! Oh, dear ! This is too 
funny!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “ Four-and- 
twenty tailors afraid of a snail, even if she did 
put out her horns like a Kylow cow. I say, tail- 
ors! Come back! Come back! ” cried Uncle 
Wiggily. “ Mother Goose is worried about 
you. Comeback!” 

“We’re afraid of the snail! ” said one, who 
had sung the song. 

“ Nonsense ! ” laughed Uncle Wiggily. “ She 
wouldn’t hurt a lightning bug! Come here. I’ll 
show you how to make her pull in her horns ! ” 

Slowly and carefully the four-and-twenty tail- 
ors came back on their tippy-tiptoes. 

“ What did you want to catch a snail for, any- 
how? ” asked the bunny uncle. 

“ Make her put in her horns so she won’t look 
so much like a cow and scare us, and we’ll tell 
you,” said the singing tailor. 

Uncle Wiggily laughed and suddenly cried: 

“ Snail, snail, pull in your horn, 

Here’s Jimmie, the duck boy. 
Looking for corn ! ” 

Then the snail quickly pulled in her horns 
and crawled away and she didn’t hurt the tailors 


i68 Uncle Wiggily and the Tailors 


any, and they didn’t tickle her with a needle, 
thimble or even a spool of hooks and eyes. 

“ We just wanted to see if we could catch a 
snail,” said the singing tailor. “We didn’t 
mean to hurt her, but it says in Mother Goose’s 
book that four-and-twenty tailors went out to 
catch a snail, and, as we were not very busy this 
morning, we went out. But, oh ! how fierce she 
did look with her horns! I’m not going snail- 
hunting any more.” 

“ Nor I,” cried the other twenty-three tailors 
in a chorus. Then they thanked Uncle Wiggily 
for having driven the snail away, as he did, by 
making believe Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck 
boy, was coming after her (since ducks like 
snails very much). And the tailors each gave 
Uncle Wiggily a spool of thread, so Nurse Jane 
had all she wanted, and Grandpa Goosey’s but- 
ton was sewed on. 

And if the basket of soap bubbles doesn’t fall 
down-stairs and spill ink on the white table cloth 
just as it is going to the dance. I’ll tell you next 
about Uncle Wiggily and the bat. 


CHAPTER XXVI 

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BAT 

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice little boy 
bear — Oh, please be so kind as to excuse me, as 
the telephone girl says when she rings the dinner 
bell at supper time. I mean Uncle Wiggily 
Longears, the nice old rabbit gentleman, put on 
his red, white and blue-striped rheumatism tall 
silk hat and 

Eh? What's that? Something else wrong? 
Oh, yes; to be sure. I meant to say he took his 
red, white and blue striped rheumatism crutch, 
and put his tall silk hat on over his ears, and then 
he started out of his hollow-stump bungalow for 
a walk. 

I don’t know what’s the matter with me in this 
story — making so many mistakes — unless it was 
that I danced the fox-trot backward the other 
night, and it turned out to be a goose-walk. 
Anyhow, I’ll try to be more careful after this. 

Out stepped Uncle Wiggily, starting off to- 
ward the woods, but he had not gone very far be- 
169 


170 Uncle Wiggily and the Bat 


fore Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat 
lady, called to him. 

“ Where are you going, Uncle Wiggily? 
Don’t you know that it is after supper, and will 
soon be dark? Then why do you go to the 
woods? ” 

I want an adventure,” answered the bunny 
uncle. “ I haven’t had one to-day. And, as for 
the dark, the moon will soon be up, and give me 
good light. Have no fear, Nurse Jane, I will 
soon be back safely.” 

So Nurse Jane had no fear and Uncle Wig- 
gily hopped on and on, over the fields and 
through the woods. All of a sudden he passed 
the house where Susie Littletail, the little rabbit 
girl, lived. 

Oh, Uncle Wiggily,” called Mrs. Littletail, 
the bunny mother. “ If you see Susie, will you 
please tell her to come home at once? Her sup- 
per is quite cold, though I will warm up the car- 
rot gravy for her.” 

“ I’ll tell her,” promised the bunny uncle. 
‘‘ Where is she? ” 

She went over to play with Lulu and Alice 
Wibblewobble, the two duck girls,” was the an- 
swer, “ and she must be having a fine time, for 
she’s been there ever so long.” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Bat 171 


“ I wonder what sort of an adventure I shall 
have this evening,” thought the bunny uncle. 
“ Yesterday I drove away the snail that was scar- 
ing the four-and-twenty tailors, but no tailors 
would be out now, after dark. However, the 
moon will soon be up, and then I will have light 
enough to see an adventure if one happens 
along.” 

Going a little farther, Uncle Wiggily came to 
where Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble, the duck 
girls, lived in a nice pen, with their father and 
mother and their brother Jimmie. 

Is Susie Littletail in there? ” asked Uncle 
Wiggily, looking over the fence. Her mother 
said she came over here to play, but hasn’t come 
home yet. Is she there? ” 

“ No, Uncle Wiggily,” answered Lulu, wag- 
ging her tail wobbily like. “ Susie left here 
some time ago. She said she was going to run 
home to supper.” 

“ It’s queer I didn’t meet her,” said the bunny 
uncle. But, perhaps, she might have gone 
home by another path. I daresay she is all right. 
I’ll walk along a little farther, and then if I don’t 
see her I’ll go back.” 


172 


Uncle Wiggily and the Bat 


Well, Uncle Wiggily was going on and on, 
when, all at once from behind an old stump, he 
heard a sad little voice crying, and saying: 

“Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Fm afraid to go 
home, and Fm afraid to stay here. I don’t know 
what to do ! ” 

“ My ! That sounds like trouble of the very 
worst kind! ” spoke Uncle Wiggily, in his jolly 
voice. “ I must see who it is, and if I can help 
them.” 

Uncle Wiggily started for the stump, and 
then he happend to think : 

“ Ah, perhaps that might be the skillery-scal- 
ery alligator with the humps on his tail, making 
believe to be in trouble just to get me near 
enough so he can catch me. I had better be 
careful.” 

So Uncle Wiggily carefully peeked around 
the corner before going any closer to the stump, 
and there, sitting down on a stone behind it in 
the moonlight, was Susie Littletail, the rabbit 
girl, herself. 

“ Why, Susie ! ” cried Uncle Wiggily. 
“ What are you doing here? Your mother is 
looking for you, and so am I. Why don’t you 
go home? ” 


Uncle Wiggily and the Bat 


173 


“ 'Cause Fm afraid, Uncle Wiggily," and 
Susie cried a few tears. 

What are you afraid of? " asked the bunny 
uncle. “ Surely not the dark. That can't hurt 
you, and besides it will soon be moonlight." 

No, Fm not afraid of the dark. Uncle 
Wiggily," said Susie, “ but Fm afraid of the 
bat." 

The bat? " cried the bunny uncle, aston- 
ished like. 

“ Yes; he's a big bird with wings, but he has 
ears and looks like a rat. Fm afraid he'll get 
tangled in my fur, or else that he’ll bite me. Oh, 
there he is now ! " and Susie pointed to some- 
thing black, like a bird, flying to and fro in the 
darkness. 

“ Yes, that is a bat," said Uncle Wiggily, “ but 
it will not hurt you. It is only flying around to 
catch mosquitoes and other bugs that come out 
mostly at night. A bat, like an owl, can see in 
the dark. He won't hurt you." 

“ Oh, but Fm afraid," said Susie. “ I started 
from the Wibblewobble house a long time ago, 
to go home, but I saw the bat flying around and 
I hid. I dassen't go home." 

“Nonsense!" laughed Uncle Wiggily. 
“ I'll fix it for you. I'll play a little joke on the 


174 


Uncle Wiggily and the Bat 


bat and get him out of the way until I can lead 
you home.” 

So Uncle Wiggily recited this little verse from 
Mother Goose : 

“ Bat, bat ! Come under my hat, 

And ril give you a slice of bacon. 
And when I bake, 

I’ll give you a cake. 

If I am not mistaken.” 

Uncle Wiggily put his tall silk hat on the 
ground, and, surely enough, the bat crawled 
under it to see if there were any bacon there. 
And, before he could come out Uncle Wiggily 
hurried home with Susie, who wasn’t afraid any 
more, not with the bunny uncle to hold her paw. 

Then Uncle Wiggily, not being mistaken, 
got a cake from Nurse Jane and took it back to 
the bat, also getting his tall silk hat. And the 
bat was very much obliged, for the cake, and he 
said he never would have tangled himself in 
Susie’s fur anyhow, so she need not have been 
afraid. 

“ But I’m glad she’s safely home,” said the 
bat. 

“ So am I,” said Uncle Wiggily. 


Uncle Wiggily and the Bat 


175 


And I guess Susie was also. 

But if the button-hook doesn’t get tangled up 
in the dog’s tail, and ride out to where the shoe 
horn is playing tunes for the rubber heels to 

dance the lame duck, I’ll tell you next 

Oh, but hold on, if you please. I’m not going 
to tell you any more stories in this book, for it is 
already quite well filled, as you can see for your- 
self. So if I write any more tales they will have 
to go in another big volume like this. 

That’s what I’ll do, if you like, and the next 
book will be called, Uncle Wiggily and His 
Friends,” and will tell of the different things that 
happened to the bunny uncle when he went call- 
ing on all the animal folk that live in Woodland. 
So, while I am getting that book ready, I will 
say good-bye. 


THE END 









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CHILDREN’S BOOKS 

by HOWARD R. GARIS 

BEDTIME STORIES 


Cloth, finely decorated cover, eight colored 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Price^ joer volume 75 cents, postpaid 

Each book contains a story for every day in the month 

SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL 

31 Rabbit Stories 

JOHNNIE AND BILLIE BUSHYTAIL 
31 Squirrel Stories 
LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE 

WIBBLEWOBBLE 

31 Duck Stories 

UNCLE WIGGILY’S ADVENTURES 
31 Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories 
JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW WOW 
31 Doffgrie Stories 

UNCLE WIGGILY’S TRAVELS 

31 more Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories 

BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES PIGG 

31 Guinea Pig Stories 

UNCLE WIGGILY’S FORTUNE 

31 queer Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories 
JOIE, TOMMIE AND KITTIE KAT 
31 Kitten Stories 

CHARLIE AND ARABELLA CHICK 

31 Chicken Stories 

UNCLE WIGGILY’S AUTOMOBILE 

31 surprising Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories 

NEDDIE AND BECKIE STUBTAIL 

31 Nice Bear Stories 

BULLY AN D B A WL Y N O-T AIL 

31 Frog Stories 

UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE SEASHORE 
31 different Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories 
NANNIE AND BILLIE WAGTAIL 
31 G oat Stor ies 

SOMETHING NEW 


THE DADDY SERIES 

Colored cover and frontispiece, and three drawings in 
black and white 
Price 40 cents per volume, postpaid 
Fun, adventure, amusement, with some nature and 
o’it-door instruction for Little Folk. 


DADDY TAKES US CAMPING 
DADDY TAKES US FISHING 
DADDY TAKES US TO THE CIRCUS 
DADDY TAKES US SKATING 
DADDY TAKES US COASTING 
{Other hooks in preparation) 

All about a little boy and a little girl and their dear 

Daddy 


JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW WOW 

“Come on, Jackie!” called Peetie Bow Wow, 
the boy doggie, one morning. “Come on!’ 

“Where are you going?” asked Jackie of 
Peetie. 

“Let’s run off and join the circus,” suggested 
Peetie, as he tried to stand up on the end of his 
tail and turn a somersault. “We can earn a lot 
of money.” 

“How?” asked Jackie, scratching his nose 
with his ear. 

“Why, we can make money by doing tricks in 
the circus,” went on Peetie. “We can jump 
over the backs of elephants, climb up to the top 
of the tent, and do lots of things like that. A 
circus is fun!” 

You have read how Daddy Blake took Hal 
and Mab to the circus, and you will like to read 
about Jackie and Peetie. They are in a book 
called “Bedtime Stories: Jackie and Peetie 
Bow Wow,” by Howard R. Garis, who also 
wrote the Daddy books. 

Send to R. F. Fenno & Company, 18 East 
1 7th Street, New York City, and they will mail 
the book on receipt of price, if you can not get it 
in your book store. The book has colored 
pictures. 


UNCLE WIGGILY’S FORTUNE 


“Oh, dear!” cried Uncle Wiggily Longears, 
the rabbit gentleman, as he got to the top of a 
big hill and looked down. “Oh, dear!” 

“Why, what has happened?” asked Sammie 
Littletail, the boy rabbit, hopping up. 

“Why, I have traveled all over, just as Dr. 
Possum told me to,” replied Uncle Wiggily, 
“and I have not yet found my fortune. It is 
very sad!” 

“Sad!” cried Sammie. “Not a bit of it! I 
know where your fortune is. You are the rich- 
est rabbit in the whole world!” 

“My goodness me, sakes alive, and some ice 
cream radishes!” Uncle Wiggily exclaimed. 

And then Sammie showed the rabbit gentle- 
man his fortune. You may read all about how 
he found it in the book entitled “Bedtime Sto- 
ries: Uncle Wiggily’s Fortune.” And you 
should see the colored pictures Mr. Wisa made 
for it! 

Howard R. Garis, who wrote the Daddy 
books, wrote this one about Uncle Wiggily. 
R. F. Fenno & Company, of 18 East 17th 
Street, New York City, publish it. They will 
send it to you if your own store does not have it. 
Write and ask them. 


DADDY TAKES US TO THE CIRCUS 


“Oh, Mab!” cried Hal Blake, as he came 
running into the house one morning. “Daddy is 
going to take us to the circus!” 

“Are you. Daddy?” asked the little girl. 

“Yes,” said Mr. Blake. “Here are the 
tickets.” 

“Oh, what fun we’ll have!” shouted Hal. 

“Won’t we!” added his sister. 

How Daddy Blake took the children to the 
ciiow in the big tent, and how Hal and Mab 
went to sleep in one of the red wagons, and were 
carried off — all that you may read in the book 
called “Daddy Takes Us to the Circus.” It is 
written by Howard R. Garis, who also wrote 
the Bedtime book you have just read. It con- 
tains fine pictures, and has a decorated cover. 
You read, and liked, the Bedtimes, so surely 
you will like the Daddy books. 

If your dealer does not keep them, please 
send to the publishers, R. F. Fenno & Com- 
pany, 18 East 17th Street, New York City, 
who will forward any volume on receipt of 
price. 

Daddy Blake, on his trips with Hal and 
Mab, told them things about nature and 
door life. 


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



